25 March, 2014

Diabetes and high blood pressure in middle age could lead to brain cell loss later in life

People who develop diabetes and high blood pressure in middle age are more likely to have brain cell loss and other damage to the brain, as well as problems with memory and thinking skills, than people who never have diabetes or high blood pressure or who develop it in old age, a new study suggests. Middle age was defined as age 40 to 64 and old age as age 65 and older.

‘Potentially, if we can prevent or control diabetes and high blood pressure in middle age, we can prevent or delay the brain damage that occurs decades later and leads to memory and thinking problems and dementia,’ study author and Mayo Clinic epidemiologist Rosebud Roberts M.B., Ch.B said. For the study, the thinking and memory skills of 1,437 people with an average age of 80 were evaluated. The participants had either no thinking or memory problems or mild memory and thinking problems called mild cognitive impairment.   

They then had brain scans to look for markers of brain damage that can be a precursor to dementia. Participants’ medical records were reviewed to determine whether they had been diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure in middle age or later. For diabetes, 72 people developed it in middle age, 142 in old age and 1,192 did not have diabetes. For high blood pressure, 449 people developed it in middle age, 448 in old age and 369 did not have it.

Compared to people who did not have diabetes, people who developed diabetes in middle age had a total brain volume average of 2.9 percent smaller. In the hippocampus area of the brain, the volume was 4 percent smaller. They also were twice as likely to have thinking and memory problems. Compared to people who did not have high blood pressure, people who developed high blood pressure in middle age were twice as likely to have areas of brain damage. The study is published online in the journal Neurology.

Source: http://health.india.com/news

25.03.2014

Beware — too much stress can make women infertile!

Stress can delay pregnancy and double the risk of infertility in women, scientists have warned. Researchers found that women with the highest levels of stress biomarkers in their saliva have more problems getting pregnant than other women. Courtney Denning-Johnson Lynch, director of reproductive epidemiology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and colleagues extended their earlier study conducted in the UK that demonstrated an association between high levels of stress and a reduced probability of pregnancy.

The new study found that women with high levels of alpha-amylase – a biological indicator of stress measured in saliva – are 29 per cent less likely to get pregnant each month. They were also more than twice as likely to meet the clinical definition of infertility (remaining not pregnant despite 12 months of regular unprotected intercourse), compared to women with low levels of this protein enzyme. The study tracked 501 American women ages 18 to 40 years who were free from known fertility problems and had just started trying to conceive, and followed them for 12 months or until they became pregnant as part of the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment (LIFE) Study.  

Saliva samples were collected from participants the morning following enrollment and again the morning following the first day of their first study-observed menstrual cycle. Specimens were available for 373 women and were measured for the presence of salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol, two biomarkers of stress.  

‘This is now the second study in which we have demonstrated that women with high levels of the stress biomarker salivary alpha-amylase have a lower probability of becoming pregnant, compared to women with low levels of this biomarker,’ said Lynch. ‘For the first time, we’ve shown that this effect is potentially clinically meaningful, as it’s associated with a greater than two-fold increased risk of infertility among these women,’ Lynch said. Lynch said results of this research should encourage women who are experiencing difficulty getting pregnant to consider managing their stress using stress reduction techniques such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness.  

However, she said that couples should not blame themselves if they are experiencing fertility problems, as stress is not the only or most important factor involved in a woman’s ability to get pregnant.

The study is published in the journal Human Reproduction.

Source: http://health.india.com/news

25.03.2014

Easier for stars to spread awareness: Kajol

Mumbai: An accomplished actress and a doting mother, Kajol, who backs a social mission - Lifebuoy `Help A Child Reach 5`, believes that the voice of stars like her reaches out to more people and spreads greater awareness.

The actress joined the `Help A Child Reach 5` campaign last year. It`s a mission to spread the importance of good handwashing habits around the world, to help more children reach their fifth birthday. "I think it gets easier for an actress or a star to spread the awareness because people connect with familiar faces. They listen to them and it helps a lot to bring a difference," Kajol said..

The campaign began last year in Thesgora village in Madhya Pradesh and has demonstrated some encouraging results: Diarrhoea has dropped from 36 percent to five percent.

Backing the cause, Kajol says children`s health is not taken seriously in the country.

"I strongly feel that children are not taken seriously in India. We have to give a lot of priority to their health. This is one of the aspects which needs to be solved.

"There are so many children who die from diarrhea or pneumonia every day. That is preventable. So I have been advocating the cause of handwashing and urging people to donate to handwashing programmes," she said.

She says the promising results of the campaign has given the team more confidence "that children can survive by inculcating the simple habit of hand washing with soap."

In India, over 600,000 children under the age of five are said to die from to pneumonia and diarrhoea annually. Handwashing with soap is regarded as one of the most cost effective ways to prevent child deaths.

He who thinks he knows doesn’t know, he who knows that he doesn’t know knows