respiratory health

5 tips for winter if you have breathing problems

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Here are our 5 tips to help you breathe better now we have moved into winter cold season:

  1. Use a scarf or mask to place around your mouth as this will make it easier to breathe in the cold winter air
  2. Use a humidifier at home to help keep the dry air moisturised
  3. For those who prefer to get outdoors remember to try to avoid the coldest part of the day
  4. Also move your exercises to indoors so not outside in the cold for too long
  5. If short of breath close your lips together when its cold

Winter is a season where it is best to make sure you are more aware of how this affects your breathing. Stay wrapped up warm, keep moving and if you have an inhaler keep this with you at all times. You may have asthma, COPD or another respiratory illness and remember just be prepared but you can still enjoy day to day activities.

3 Wellness tips for winter

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winter
  1. It is beneficial if you try to breathe via your nose instead of your mouth. Doing this will warm up the air you breathe in and make you feel much more warmer.
  2. By staying active you will generate extra body heat to help you stay warm and also being active will also promote a positive mentality and positive wellbeing.
  3. At home if you maintain a consistent temperature of at least 18°C (64°F) and keep your windows closed as cold air will increase the chances of any respiratory infections.

With the colder months drawing in you must make sure you plan and prepare so you can be warm and safe this winter.

Travel with oxygen to anywhere!

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It may seem a confusing time in regards to restrictions, guidelines and rules but the world is your oyster. If you maintain your safety and others you can still enjoy a vacation. Going away after all these times will feel like a breathe of fresh air you need after being indoors for the past few months. Even if you are planning next years’ travel plans this is OK as you can plan to take a much needed extended holiday trip. Maybe you want to travel the world a bit and see various places after missing out this year. It is the perfect opportunity to research, plan and book your holiday – plus it will give us something to look forward to.

Even when travelling with medical oxygen you may think there are not many places you can travel – but you are wrong. The team at OxygenWorldwide have over 20 years experience and can help arrange oxygen therapy across the world in over 130 countries.

If you have always wanted to see and discover new places, cultures of just want something different for your next adventure. Then go for it!!! Plan and research today for when you are ready to fly, boat or train across the countries of this world. There is so much to see when we are all ready.

Dont forget visit our website here and download our FREE e-book today.

We take care of everyone…

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At OxygenWorldwide no matter how young we will take care.

Respiratory diseases are amongst all ages and therefore we are a service that takes this into consideration. You may be travelling to Disneyland in America or to your holiday retreat in Spain but what ever destination you choose we will make sure your care is in good hands.

Cigarette smoke affects your DNA

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A recent study proposed the idea that damage to our DNA at the telomeres contributes to lung ageing, continuing damage and worsening COPD symptoms. Also that cigarette smoke increases and encourages such damage to the telomeres.
smoke
Telomeres are specialized structures at the ends of chromosomes within our DNA that protect it from deterioration and prevent fusing with nearby chromosomes. COPD has long been associated with accelerated lung aging and abnormal cell division. Telomeres shorten with each cell division, therefore the more the cell divides the less protection the DNA strands have.
In a newer study they investigated telomere dysfunction in lung airway cells from patients with COPD using lung aging mouse models exposed to cigarette smoke. They found that there was no difference in telomere length between control patients and COPD patients, which contradicts the previous study although they say that this could be due to a small sample size and will need to be repeated with a larger amount of samples.
With age they observed an increase in telomere dysfunction and that this was also increased with exposure to cigarette smoke. They found that the cigarette smoke accelerated the telomere dysfunction by increasing levels of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and aided in the secretion of inflammatory cytokines.
As a result, the team highlighted that their findings suggest that telomeres are particularly susceptible to damage triggered by cigarette smoke, and that this may lead to an accelerated decline of lung function in both aging and COPD patients.  So whether you have COPD or have normal respiratory health, exposure to cigarette smoke will trigger telomere dysfunction, affecting the DNA within the cells and causing damage to the cells in your lungs. And thereby  reducing respiratory function in the elderly and worsening symptoms in COPD patients. This study suggests that the elderly and patients suffering from respiratory illness should not only stop smoking but also not be around other smokers in order to preserve their respiratory health.
References: http://copdnewstoday.com

An inadequate supply of oxygen contributed to cause of death cont…

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Since the patients with even a single episode requiring intubation for severe asthma are at very high risk of recurring life threatening attacks and death, and since most asthma deaths take place at home, it is recommended that patients suffering with severe asthma provide themselves with supplemental oxygen at home for emergency use for possible attacks.
Asthma_triggers_2
Around 1,600 adults and 20 children in the UK die every year from acute asthma. The key to their survival can be as simple as receiving a quick supply of pure oxygen.
However asthma sufferers are frequently told by their doctors and other healthcare workers that they do not fit the criteria for a home supply and many local GP surgeries do not hold emergency oxygen cylinders.
Research published in the British Medical Journal states that:
‘an inadequate supply of oxygen was an important cause of death in those who died following a severe attack.’
The research suggests patients with severe asthma could be provided with oxygen cylinders for emergency use at home and says:
‘The important point is that asthmatic patients are still dying during acute attacks – and the use of oxygen… in primary care is rational and could save lives.’
The research is supported by British Thoracic Society’s guidelines which advise oxygen as a first line treatment for all patients with acute severe asthma. Asthma sufferers feel safer knowing that if oxygen is close to hand they will not only have treatment to save their life but it also reduces the severity of the attack; as stress and anxiety levels are reduced and quick and prompt treatment can halt the attack in its step.
An asthma attack may begin suddenly with wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. At other times, an asthma attack may come on slowly with gradually worsening symptoms. In either case, people with asthma usually first notice shortness of breath, coughing, or chest tightness. The attack may be over in minutes, or it may last for hours or days. Itching on the chest or neck may be an early symptom, especially in children. A dry cough at night or while exercising may be the only symptom.
During an asthma attack, shortness of breath may become severe, creating a feeling of severe anxiety. The person instinctively sits upright and leans forward, using the neck and chest muscles to help in breathing, but still struggles for air. Sweating is a common reaction to the effort and anxiety. The pulse usually quickens, and the person may feel a pounding in the chest.
In a very severe asthma attack, a person is able to say only a few words without stopping to take a breath. Wheezing may diminish, however, because hardly any air is moving in and out of the lungs. Confusion, lethargy, and a blue skin color are signs that the person’s oxygen supply is severely limited, and emergency treatment is needed. Usually, a person recovers completely with appropriate treatment, even from a severe asthma attack. Rarely, some people develop attacks so quickly that they may lose consciousness before they can give themselves effective therapy. Such people should wear a medical alert bracelet and carry a cellular phone to call for emergency medical assistance. Research suggests a strong link between stress and asthmatic symptoms and experts suggest better treatment, including confident, self management of the condition, could improve the quality of life for asthmatics. The close links between stress and asthma are clear given the potential consequences of untreated attacks.
An asthma attack can be frightening, both to the person experiencing it and to others around. Even when relatively mild, the symptoms provoke anxiety and alarm. A severe asthma attack is a life-threatening emergency that requires immediate, skilled, professional care. If not treated adequately and quickly, a severe asthma attack can cause death.
People who have a mild asthma attack are usually able to treat it without assistance from a health care practitioner. Typically, they use an inhaler to deliver a dose of a short-acting beta-adrenergic drug such as albuterol , move into fresh air (away from cigarette smoke or other irritants), and sit down and rest.
People who have severe symptoms should typically go to an emergency department. For severe attacks, doctors give frequent (or sometimes continuous) treatment using inhaled beta-adrenergic drugs and sometimes anticholinergic drugs. Supplemental oxygen is also given immediately so as to increase the percentage level of oxygen being breathed in to help raise oxygen levels in the blood.
Since the patients with even a single episode requiring intubation for severe asthma are at very high risk of recurring life threatening attacks and death, and since most asthma deaths take place at home, it is recommended that patients suffering with severe asthma provide themselves with supplemental oxygen at home for emergency use for possible attacks.
 

Injection For Patients Who Cannot Breathe

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An injection that delivers oxygen directly into the bloodstream for patients who cannot breathe has been invented by scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital, according a report published in Science Translational Medicine. The authors explained that when patients suffer from an obstructed airway or acute lung failure, they urgently need oxygen to reach their blood, otherwise they have brain injury or suffer from cardiac arrest.
The researchers designed an injection filled with tiny, gas-filled microparticles that can be administered directly into the bloodstream, supplying it with much-needed oxygen.
The microparticles are made of a single layer of fatty molecules that surround a miniscule pocket of oxygen – they are placed in a liquid solution and injected into the patients.
John Kheir and team say that patients who are injected with this solution, may regain near-normal blood oxygen levels within seconds.
In animal experiments, the authors reported that they could beep the animals alive without breathing for 15 minutes, drastically reducing the incidence of organ injury and cardiac arrest (the heart stops completely).
The oxygen injection may buy the patient valuable time John Kheir explained that the microparticle solutions are easy to carry around, and could conveniently be utilized to keep people who cannot breathe alive, giving emergency personnel more time to get patients to a safe place where more sophisticated life-saving procedures can be carried out.
The authors say the microparticle solution injections could not be used for more than fifteen to thirty minutes, because they contain fluid that would overload the blood if used for any longer.
These are not blood substitutes, Kheir stressed. Blood substitutes carry oxygen, but are of limited use when the lungs are not working and cannot oxygenate them. These microparticles are specifically designed for people who cannot breathe.
After caring for a young girl who had severe pneumonia in 2006 and suffered severe brain injury because of extremely low blood-oxygen levels, Kheir starting looking into the idea of injectable oxygen.
The little girl died before the medical team could get her on a heart-lung machine.
It was several years before the team managed to get the microparticles safe for injection. Kheir said “The effort was truly multidisciplinary. It took chemical engineers, particle scientists and medical doctors to get the mix just right.”
They used a sonicator – a device which emits high-intensity sound waves to mix lipids and oxygen together. Oxygen gas gets trapped inside tiny particles, about two to four micrometers in size – too small to see with the naked eye. They found that a solution in which 70% of the volume consisted of oxygen was just right for human blood.
In previous studies in the early 1900s, scientists attempted to oxygenate blood with intravenous oxygen, but they failed. Sometimes they caused fatal gas embolisms.
reference: Copyright: Medical News Today

One day we will provide our clients with some 'grains' opposed to a POC to travel with.

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oxygenabsorber-2

Just a few grains of the newly synthesized material could allow us to stay underwater without scuba tanks

Using specially synthesized crystalline materials, scientists from the University of Southern Denmark have created a substance that is able to absorb and store oxygen in such high concentrations that just one bucketful is enough to remove all of the oxygen in a room. The substance is also able to release the stored oxygen in a controlled manner when it is needed, so just a few grains could replace the need for divers to carry bulky scuba tanks.
The key component of the new material is the element cobalt, which is bound in a specially designed organic molecule. In standard form – and depending on the available oxygen content, the ambient temperature, and the barometric pressure – the absorption of oxygen by the material from its surroundings may take anything from seconds to days.
“An important aspect of this new material is that it does not react irreversibly with oxygen – even though it absorbs oxygen in a so-called selective chemisorptive process,” said Professor Christine McKenzie from the University of Southern Denmark. “The material is both a sensor, and a container for oxygen – we can use it to bind, store, and transport oxygen – like a solid artificial hemoglobin.”

The crystalline material changes color when absorbing or releasing oxygen: black when satu...

The crystalline material changes color when absorbing or releasing oxygen: black when saturated, pink when oxygen released (Photo: University of Denmark)

Varying the constituent structure of the material can also bind and release oxygen at different rates. This means it could be used to regulate oxygen supply in fuel cells or create devices like face masks that use layers of the material to provide pure oxygen to a person directly from the air, without the need of other equipment.
Even more interestingly, the material may also be configured in a device that could absorb oxygen directly from water and allow a diver to stay submerged for long periods of time, without the need for bulky air tanks.
“This could be valuable for lung patients who today must carry heavy oxygen tanks with them,” explains Professor McKenzie. “But also divers may one day be able to leave the oxygen tanks at home and instead get oxygen from this material as it ‘filters’ and concentrates oxygen from surrounding air or water. A few grains contain enough oxygen for one breath, and as the material can absorb oxygen from the water around the diver and supply the diver with it, the diver will not need to bring more than these few grains.”
Using x-ray diffraction techniques to peer inside the atomic arrangement of the material when it had been filled with oxygen, the scientists realized that once the oxygen has been absorbed it can be stored in the material until it is released by heating the material gently or subjecting it to a vacuum.
“We see release of oxygen when we heat up the material, and we have also seen it when we apply vacuum,” said Professor McKenzie. “We are now wondering if light can also be used as a trigger for the material to release oxygen – this has prospects in the growing field of artificial photosynthesis.”
There’s no word as yet on any possible commercial production or public availability of the material.
The research was published in the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Chemical Science.
Source: University of Southern Denmark.

Not sleeping can affect your health

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Sleep apnea can worsen blood sugar control in people with Type 2 diabetes by disrupting the deepest stage of sleep, a new study suggests. The findings provide another good reason for people with sleep apnea to wear a CPAP mask that helps assure uninterrupted breathing, the standard treatment for the condition, throughout the night.Travelling with oxygen

It is well known that sleep apnea, which causes breathing pauses and dangerous drops in oxygen during sleep, sharply raises the risk of Type 2 diabetes. More severe cases of sleep apnea are generally associated with poorer blood sugar control in diabetics.

While breathing pauses can occur throughout the night in apnea patients, the new study, published in Diabetes Care, found that episodes that occurred during the rapid eye movement, or REM, phase of sleep had the most detrimental effects on long-term blood sugar control.

Most REM sleep occurs in the early morning hours before waking. But research shows that many patients remove their CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, mask in the middle of the night because it can feel uncomfortable, said Dr. Babak Mokhlesi, an author of the new study and the director of the sleep disorders center at the University of Chicago.

As a result, their apnea is more likely to go untreated during REM sleep, a time that may be particularly important for anyone with diabetes, Dr. Mokhlesi said.

reference to Anahad O’Connor, New York Times, 2014