High Blood CholesterolHigh Blood Cholesterol: What You Need To Know

What Is Cholesterol?

To understand high blood cholesterol (ko-LES-ter-ol), it is important to know more about cholesterol.

• Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is found in all cells of the body. Your body needs some cholesterol to work the right way. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs.
• Cholesterol is also found in some of the foods you eat.
• Your body uses cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods.

Blood is watery, and cholesterol is fatty. Just like oil and water, the two do not mix. To travel in the bloodstream, cholesterol is carried in small packages called lipoproteins (lip-o-PRO-teens). The small packages are made of fat (lipid) on the inside and proteins on the outside. Two kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol throughout your body. It is important to have healthy levels of both:

• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is sometimes called bad cholesterol.
  • High LDL cholesterol leads to a buildup of cholesterol in arteries. The higher the LDL level in your blood, the greater chance you have of getting heart disease.
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is sometimes called good cholesterol.
  • HDL carries cholesterol from other parts of your body back to your liver. The liver removes the cholesterol from your body. The higher your HDL cholesterol level, the lower your chance of getting heart disease.

What Is High Blood Cholesterol?

Too much cholesterol in the blood, or high blood cholesterol, can be serious. People with high blood cholesterol have a greater chance of getting heart disease. High blood cholesterol on its own does not cause symptoms, so many people are unaware that their cholesterol level is too high.

Cholesterol can build up in the walls of your arteries (blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to other parts of the body). This buildup of cholesterol is called plaque (plak). Over time, plaque can cause narrowing of the arteries. This is called atherosclerosis (ath-er-o-skler-O-sis), or hardening of the arteries.

The illustration shows a normal artery with normal blood flow (figure A) and an artery containing plaque buildup (figure B).

Special arteries, called coronary arteries, bring blood to the heart. Narrowing of your coronary arteries due to plaque can stop or slow down the flow of blood to your heart. When the arteries narrow, the amount of oxygen-rich blood is decreased. This is called coronary heart disease (CHD). Large plaque areas can lead to chest pain called angina (an-JI-nuh or AN-juh-nuh). Angina happens when the heart does not receive enough oxygen-rich blood. Angina is a common symptom of CHD.

Some plaques have a thin covering and can burst (rupture), releasing cholesterol and fat into the bloodstream. The release of cholesterol and fat may cause your blood to clot. A clot can block the flow of blood. This blockage can cause angina or a heart attack.

Lowering your cholesterol level decreases your chance for having a plaque burst and cause a heart attack. Lowering cholesterol may also slow down, reduce, or even stop plaque from building up.

Plaque and resulting health problems can also occur in arteries elsewhere in the body.

Indonesian elephant fossil opens window to past

Scientists arrange the bones of an estimated 200,000 year-old giant elephant at Geology Museum in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, June 18, 2009. Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of an ancient elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin. Based on the fossil, the ancient elephant stood four meters (13-feet) tall, was five meters (16-feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons, considerably larger than the great Asian mammals now on Earth. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

BANDUNG, Indonesia (AP): Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin.

The prehistoric elephant is believed to have been submerged in quicksand shortly after dying on a riverbed in Java around 200,000 years ago. Its bones--almost perfectly preserved--were discovered by chance in March.

The animal stood four meters (13-feet) tall, was five meters (16-feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons. It was considerably larger than the great Asian mammals now on Earth, and closely resembled the woolly mammoth of the same period in terms of size.

Animal fossils are rare in the humid, hot climate of the equator because decomposition occurs extremely quickly.

A team of seven paleontologists from the Geology Museum in Bandung, West Java, set the bones in plaster for the trip back to their office after a monthlong excavation and the laborious process of piecing them together then began.

"We believe from the shape of its teeth that it was a very primitive elephant," but little else has been verified, said paleontologist Fachroel Aziz, who is heading a 12-strong skeletal reconstruction team.

Scientists agree it is the first time an entire prehistoric elephant skeleton has been unearthed since vertebrate fossil findings began to be recorded in Indonesia in 1863.

"It is very uncommon to discover a fossil like this in a tropical region like Indonesia," said Edi Sunardi, an independent expert at Indonesia's Pajajaran University in Bandung, West Java. "It apparently was covered by volcanic sediment that protected it from high temperatures, erosion and decay."

"From its feet to its skull, from the trunk to its tail bone, it's all complete," he said.

A piece of the 2.5-meter (8.2-foot) tusk of the extinct species was discovered five years ago by a geologist on a mapping project in the hilly village of Sungun, Central Java. The bigger find came three months ago when an old sand quarry collapsed during annual monsoon rains.

The next challenge will be removing the delicate bones from their molds and joining them into a stable, upright structure, a process that experts said is already being hampered by a lack of funding, inadequate tools and poor expertise.

Indonesia, an emerging and impoverished democracy of 235 million people, cannot afford to allocate more than a token sum to its aging museums, even for projects that have the potential to advance knowledge about the origin of key native species.

Gert van den Berg, a researcher at Australia's Wollongong University who helped dig up the skeleton, said tests are under way to determine its precise age and species, but that it will certainly answer lingering questions about the morphology of Asian elephants.

"This is the first time that an individual skeleton has been found that is so complete," Van den Berg said. Around 90 percent of the skeleton has been collected, including the skull and vertebrate which he said can provide details "about when the modern elephants evolved into what they are now."

About 2,000 old elephant remains have been found across the island nation over the past 150 years, but never in such good condition, said Aziz, describing how this elephant probably slipped into a pit of quicksand and was quickly buried.

"We want to exhibit it publicly because this is a spectacular discovery," he said. (By NINIEK KARMINI/Associated Press Writer)

Michael Jackson auction called off: official

LOS ANGELES: A huge sale of items belonging to former "King of Pop" Michael Jackson due to take place next week has been cancelled, the auction house organizing the sell-off confirmed Tuesday.

Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's Auctions, told AFP that the hotly anticipated sale had been scrapped after a settlement had been reached with the eccentric pop star's legal team.

Jackson's management company had been attempting to halt the April 22-25 auction despite earlier approving the sale and co-operating with Julien's.

"I can tell you that both parties today agreed not to move forward with the auction on April 22," Nolan told AFP. "The collection will stay together to be returned to Michael Jackson and MJJ Productions."

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed but Nolan said both parties were happy with the deal.

More than 1,300 items--including a customized Rolls Royce limousine and dozens of Jackson's concert costumes--had been due to go under the hammer in Beverly Hills in an auction expected to raise millions.

Items up for sale had been taken from Jackson's sprawling Neverland Ranch in California, which the singer left and has never returned to following his acquittal on child abuse charges in 2005.

All the auction lots were on display Tuesday at a public exhibition ahead of the sale which had sparked worldwide interest from memorabilia collectors and Jackson fans.

Jackson's production company MJJ Productions had contracted Julien's to arrange an auction of Neverland items last year before suddenly seeking to halt the sale in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles last month.

A judge said the sale could ahead at a hearing on April 3, although Jackson's lawyers had been due to argue for an injunction at a further hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Nolan said he believed that the reaction of Jackson's fans following news of the auction had made the singer think twice about going ahead with the sale.

"There was such a sentimental reaction from fans all over the world about the dispersal of the collection from Neverland that it made Michael aware of the level of the loyalty of the fans," Nolan told AFP.

Nolan said while he expected prospective buyers would be disappointed by the cancellation "there's going to be rejoicing as well because at the end of the day there was a touch of sadness about the dispersal of Neverland."

"But now it's going to stay together and there will eventually be a permanent museum," he said. Nolan would not speculate on where any future Jackson museum was likely to be placed.

Jackson, who dominated the pop world with hit albums like "Thriller" and "Bad" in the 1980s, has virtually vanished from public view since being cleared at his "Trial of the Century" in California four years ago.

Jackson is currently preparing for a series of comeback concerts in London in July. Tickets sold out within hours when they went on sale. (AFP)

Malaysia pushing for WHO to adopt exit screening

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is pushing for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to adopt a requirement for affected countries to implement exit screening to stop the spread of the new Influenza A disease, following concerns that a second wave of the H1N1 disease can be more deadly.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said currently WHO did not make exit screening mandatory to contain the spread of the disease and this had created tremendous pressure on other countries that were not affected by the outbreak to remain so.

WHO is not recommending travel restrictions following the outbreak, but has advised individuals who are ill to delay their travel plans and returning travellers who fall ill, to seek appropriate medical care.

The issue of exit screening was first brought up during the Asean Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting in Bangkok last week, but some countries were against making it mandatory as it would have an impact on travel and trade, especially at a time when many countries are facing an economic downturn, with huge costs involved.

"If we can have travellers from affected countries screened before they are allowed to travel out, this will help us to contain the spread of such virus to other places," he told Bernama here before leaving for the 62nd WHO General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

However, while on transit in London, Liow confirmed Malaysia's first confirmed case of influenza A(H1N1) case involving a 21-year-old student who returned to Malaysia two days ago and is now quarantined at the Sungai Buloh Hospital.

The WHO general assembly, scheduled for May 18-22, will discuss a number of public health issues, including pandemic influenza preparedness, sharing of information on the influenza virus and access to vaccines and other benefits.

Liow said Malaysia and some other countries would push for WHO to adopt exit screening as a compulsory measure in the case of any outbreak in any country.

"We are pushing for this during the WHO general assembly in Geneva this weekend. Even at the Asean Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting in Bangkok (last week), not all countries agreed to it. But we hope WHO will pay attention to this," he said.

Apart from that, Liow said Malaysia would get the latest information on the H1N1 virus from WHO, as well as on the development of new vaccines while looking into stockpiling more anti-viral drugs for the country.

"We would like to bring to WHO's attention on the need for equal distribution of anti-viral drugs as well as other stockpiles as we are worried about the second wave of attack," he said.

Experts have said that the Influenza A(H1NI) outbreak is similar to the 1918 influenza pandemic as the viruses are similar and mutated. The 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed tens of millions of people, began mild and returned within six months in a much more lethal form.

"We've got to be prepared for this second, or even possible third wave while the government has decided to take all the precautionary measures as a long-term or permanent solution to the influenza outbreak," Liow said.

WHO said the new H1N1 flu virus could still mutate into a more virulent form and spark an influenza pandemic that could be expected to circle the globe up to three times.

The world health body has warned that the impact of any pandemic would vary, as a virus that causes only mild illness in countries with a strong healthcare system can become "devastating" in those with a weak healthcare system, shortage of drugs and poorly equipped hospitals.

According to WHO, the H1N1 viral infection, commonly referred to as swine flu, "appears to be more contagious than seasonal influenza and nearly the world's whole population lacks immunity to the new disease."

So far, the virus shows no signs of sustained person-to-person spread outside North America.

Some 6,497 people have been infected in 33 countries, according to WHO's tally on Friday with the hardest hit being Mexico with 60 deaths so far. (By ALAN TING/Bernama)