The Observer
Environment 04.08.19 29Seabirds
Scientists from the University
of Tasmania reported last week
that plastic ingestion is having a
negative impact on the health of
fl esh-footed shearwaters , a near-
threatened species of seabird. Th e
study found that birds that had eaten
plastic had stunted growth and a
decline in kidney function. Plastic
ingestion kills many species , with
more than a million seabirds estimated
to be dying from it each year.Sea turtles
A 2017 University of Exeter
study showed that hundreds of sea
turtles die every year after they
becom e entangled in plastic. Last
year , Exeter scientists detected
microplastics at the nesting sites
of loggerhead and green turtles ,
potentially aff ecting turtle breeding.
As microplastics absorb heat,
their presence may raise the nest
incubation temperature, skewing the
sex ratio towards females.Toothed whales
Toothed whales often
accidentally ingest large pieces of
plastic while hunting , clogging upMarine species affected
by plastic pollution
The fi ve
Not only do a lot of women not pay
attention to their hearts, this is also
true of clinicians. A lot of times we
incorrectly think that women with
heart disease may have something
else going on. We’re better than
where we were a few years ago but
there’s still a long way to go.Do you foresee a future in which we
all wear a heart monitor that will
report to our doctors when something
irregular starts happening?
The Apple watch already gets
similar information, and there
are other devices that are even
better at assessing the heart –
so this is not just something that’s
going to happen in the future, it’s
being vigorously studied now.
To me what this represents is
the democratisation of the EKG
[electrocardiogram]. I think it’s
going to be very good for many
patients. But I also worry it may
create a lot of false alarm.
The other thing this highlights
is that heart disease is increasingly
becoming a disease of socially
disadvantaged people. People who
are affl uent can afford lifestyles
that are healthy, healthier food
and access to technologies that
can monitor their own health.
Heart disease could transform
from a medical ailment to an
economic ailment, in which just
having heart disease becomes a
synonym for poverty.Can you die from a broken heart?
It’s possible – but you’d be
surprised by what breaks people’s
hearts. This is a condition called
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy , fi rst
reported by Japanese cardiologists
who were seeing a lot of mostly
elderly women coming in after
emotional traumas with very weak
hearts. The mortality from this
condition is the same as that from
a heart attack, so it needs to be
taken seriously.
People traditionally thought
that Takotsubo occur red after
something like a
divorce or the death
of a loved one.
But any type of
emotional overload
can increase the risk- even joy. Studies
are showing that the
most common cause of
the syndrome is actually
work-related stress. This
goes to a wider arc borne out by
the data, which is that work-related
stress is really one of the drivers
of this ongoing epidemic of heart
disease.
State of the Heart by Haider Warraich
is published by St Martin’s Presstheir digestive systems. Earlier this
year, researchers from a natural
history museum in Davao City in the
Philippines recovered the body of a
Cuvier’s beaked whale that had 40kg
of plastic in its stomach and intestines.Crabs
Research carried out in 2014
by scientists from the University of
Exeter determined that microplastics
can enter crabs’ bodies through their
gills , as well as by ingestion. Scientists
believe this is also the case for other
marine creatures, including fi sh. Entry
through the gills increases the chance
of the microplastics passing up the
food chain to humans.Bacteria
Plastic pollution also aff ects
marine bacteria, scientists from
Macquarie University in Australia
reported earlier this year. Tests
showed that “exposure to chemicals
leaching from plastic pollution
interfered with the growth,
photosynthesis and oxygen production
of Prochlorococcus ,” said lead author
Dr Sasha Tetu. Th ese bacteria are
critical as they produce 10% of the
oxygen we breathe. Dani EllenbyDo you think totally artifi cial
hearts will ever become a reality?
I think they could. But right now we
have done better with a mechanical
pump sewn into the heart, called a
left ventricular assist device (LVAD ).
These patients’ experiences are
unlike any other human beings
who have ever lived. Most of them
don’t have a pulse. Listening to
their chest, you actually hear the
pump running. If they run out of
batteries, they could die, sometimes
instantaneously. But they also
represent the dawn of a new age.
People have always anticipated that
one day, we will be transhuman,
but that time has already arrived.
Patients who have LVADs, who
there are tens of thousands
of around the world, are a
living example of that.Heart attacks are often
missed in women
because they look
diff erent from
those in men. What
can we do to fi x that?
One false belief that still
persists for many is that heart
disease is a man’s disease. Women
can have later onset of heart disease
than men because they do get some
protection from female hormones,
but if you look at the entire span
of life, heart disease kills as many
women as it does men.1
2
3
4
5
JENNIFER LAVERS; ALAMY; CHISHOLM LAB/WHITEHEAD, MITHEART MATE 3tHeart pumps are
the dawning of a
new age. People
anticipate that one
day we will be
transhuman , but
that time has
already arrived
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