You’re certainly aware that COVID-19 can cause a variety of serious complications in addition to the initial infection, ranging from hazardous organ inflammation to lengthy COVID. And, as we’ve all learned and possibly already experienced, the stress of simply being in the midst of a worldwide epidemic can have long-term consequences. That stress can be life-threatening for many women.

A recent article reported that “Broken heart syndrome,” a dangerous heart ailment caused by emotional stress, has increased during the pandemic, according to researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins University, and Cleveland Clinic. Although data is still being gathered, one Cleveland Clinic study found that rates increased from less than 2% to nearly 8% during the pandemic. Because the disease is more common among women in general and during the pandemic, it’s critical to identify the risk factors.

What you should know about “broken heart syndrome” and how it affects women is outlined below.

What is “broken heart syndrome”?

The name may make it sound insignificant, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Stress cardiomyopathy, sometimes known as “broken heart syndrome,” is a type of heart attack. It can induce symptoms like shortness of breath, chest discomfort, and irregular cardiac rhythms, much like any other heart attack, but the processes are completely different.

So while pandemic stress is almost certainly contributing to the numbers, the surge could also be connected to Covid-19 infection itself, or due to people delaying their care for other medical issues during the pandemic.

A stress-induced heart attack can happen to anyone, but according to the American College of Cardiology, postmenopausal women make up 90% of stress cardiomyopathy cases.

The term also plays on healthcare inequities that women, especially women of color, face every day. Doctors are more likely to dismiss women’s chest pain or shortness of breath as psychosomatic, and anxiety can cause those things. Cardiomyopathy, on the other hand, is an actual medical emergency caused by stress. 

Medical experts have uncovered a chemical that connects the tiny creatures that call our guts home (gut microbes) to our body’s fat levels.

“We now have a biological mechanism that gives a starting point for understanding our microbiome as a relationship between our diet and our body composition,” said Dean Jones of Emory University.

Recent research suggests that leanness or weight gain may be contagious due to the transmission of certain microorganisms.

In modern times, the growth of the obesity epidemic has coincided with huge changes in our gut microbiomes. Obesity, with its accompanying health issues such as heart disease and diabetes, is a complex disorder involving the interaction of our genes, environment, and diet, as well as the composition of our microbiome.

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Because studies have shown that 10% of circulating metabolic compounds in mice may be linked back to their microbiome, molecular biologist Ken Liu and colleagues chose to dig deeper into these chemicals.

Studies have shown that 10% of circulating metabolic compounds in mice can be linked to their microbiome, molecular biologist Ken Liu and colleagues chose to investigate these chemicals further.

Delta-valerobetaine was found in mice exposed to microbes but not in microbiome-free animals bred and kept in pristine conditions as a control group. Delta-valerobetaine reduced carnitine levels in cell cultures, according to the researchers.

Vanderbilt University nutrigenomicist Jane Ferguson noted, “Delta-valerobetaine may thus have both beneficial and harmful impacts on host health.”

The sensitivity of mammalian bodies to delta-valerobetaine, according to Liu, may have developed as a strategy to encourage fat storage during times when food was limited.

“This type of data could potentially aid someone in developing a customised weight-loss regimen,” Liu added. “However, there are a number of aspects of delta-function valerobetaine’s in context that we need to learn more about.”

Their research was published in Nature Metabolism.

According to federal health ministry officials, the coronavirus positivity ratio in Karachi has surpassed 40% due to an increase in COVID-19 infections caused by the Omicron variant outbreak, a news report.

According to officials, 2,902 new infections were reported in Karachi overnight after 7,232 diagnostic tests were performed.

The city’s positivity rate has risen to 40.13 percent, the highest since the pandemic began.

Apart from Karachi, seven other cities in Pakistan reported a positivity rate of more than 10%, according to the officials.

According to the statistics, Muzaffarabad had the highest positivity rate at 21%, followed by Lahore (15.15%), Hyderabad (14%), Islamabad (12%), Peshawar (11%), and Rawalpindi (10.26%).

Furthermore, alarm bells rang in Karachi when two major health facilities in the city reported a record number of patients’ admissions, according to The News.

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According to the report, patients with breathing problems and other coronavirus-related issues are being admitted to hospitals in large numbers.

As of Tuesday, the Sindh Infectious Disease Hospital at NIPA Karachi had 82 patients, 32 of whom were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and seven of whom were on ventilators. Two of the patients were children under the age of 16, according to officials.

In Sindh, COVID-19 has claimed six more lives in the last 24 hours. The majority of the fatalities were reported in Karachi.

According to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), in the last 24 hours, 5,050 new cases of the Covarna virus have been reported in Pakistan. According to figures released by the National Command and Operations Center, 114 people have died in the country in the past 24 hours due to the coronavirus. The third wave of coronavirus is hitting Pakistan hard and the number of corona victims and deaths is increasing.

It is vital that we all contribute to containing the spread by taking sensible precautions. Wear a mask, avoid crowded places, wash hands or sanitize often, reduce travel to only essential work.

Statistics 11th April 21:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 46,066
Positive Cases: 5,050
Positivity % : 10.96%
Deaths: 111

A total of 4,139 coronavirus recoveries were reported during the last 24 hours, according to the government’s portal for tracking the spread of the disease in the country.

The total number has risen to 721,018 while the number of critical cases is 4,143.

According to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), in the last 24 hours, 4723 new cases of the Covarna virus have been reported in Pakistan. According to figures released by the National Command and Operations Center, 84 people have died in the country in the past 24 hours due to the coronavirus. It is believed that the third wave of coronavirus is continuing in Pakistan and the number of corona victims and deaths is increasing.

It is vital that we all contribute to containing the spread by taking sensible precautions. Wear a mask, avoid crowded places, wash hands or sanitize often, reduce travel to only essential work.

Statistics 3rd April 21:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 50,186
Positive Cases: 4723
Positivity % : 9.41%
Deaths: 84

A total of 2,486 coronavirus recoveries were reported during the last 24 hours, according to the government’s portal for tracking the spread of the disease in the country.

The total number has risen to 609,691 while the recovery rate is 89.3 per cent.

ISLAMABAD: According to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the COVID-19 positivity rate has spiked up to 7.8%. During the past 24 hours, about 3,495 new coronavirus cases were reported across the country taking the overall death toll to 13,717, and total cases 615,810 respectively, PSM News reported on Thursday. Moreover, the number of active coronavirus patients in the country stands at 24,592 as of today.

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About 44,377 coronavirus tests were done out of which 3,495 came back positive. Overall 577,501 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 9,648,242 samples have been tested.

The country is experiencing the third wave of coronavirus as indicated by a high positivity rate which is deemed more lethal and hazardous by health experts. They have urged people to strictly practice standard operating procedures (SOPs) to curb the virus spread.

Pakistan so far has experienced three different waves of COVID-19. The nation’s first wave of COVID-19 began in late May 2020, peaked in mid-June when daily new confirmed case numbers and daily new death numbers reached high points, then ended in mid-July. The first wave was marked by a low death rate and passed very suddenly as case and death rates began to drop very quickly after peaking. After the first wave, Pakistan’s COVID-19 situation subsided daily new death numbers and testing positivity rates in the country stabilized at low levels.

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