1, December 2014

Coffee cuts Alzheimer's risk by 20 per cent

Researchers have found that drinking up to five cups of coffee per day may help curb Alzheimer's risk by 20 percent. 

Caffeine in coffee helps prevent the formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrulary tangles in the brain - two hallmarks of Alzheimer's, the findings showed. 

"The findings suggest that regular coffee consumption over a lifetime is associated with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's, with an optimum protective effect occurring with three to five cups of coffee per day," said Arfram Ikram, assistant professor in neuroepidemiology at Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam in the Netherlands. 

The researchers explored the compounds within coffee, which may be responsible for this protective effect and identified caffeine and polyphenols as key candidates. 

In addition to this, both caffeine and polyphenols reduce inflammation and decrease the deterioration of brain cells - especially in the hippocampus and cortex, areas of the brain involved in memory. 

Moderate coffee consumption was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia over a four year follow-up period, however the effect diminished over longer follow up period. 

The findings were recently presented at the 2014 Alzhemier Europe Annual Congress in Glasgow, Britain.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

01.12.2014

Sleep disturbances linked to Alzheimer's risk

Elderly men with self-reported sleep disturbances run a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than men without self-reported sleep disturbances, says a study.

"We demonstrate that men with self-reported sleep disturbances run a 1.5-fold higher risk to develop Alzheimer's disease than those without reports of sleep disturbances during a 40-year follow-up period," said lead researcher Christian Benedict from Uppsala University in Sweden.

"The later the self-reported sleep disturbance was found the higher the risk was for developing Alzheimer's disease," Benedict added.

The researchers followed more than 1,000 men, who were initially 50 year old, between the years 1970 and 2010.

The data suggest that a regular good night's sleep could support brain health in men.

"These findings suggest that strategies aimed at improving sleep quality in late life may help reduce the risk to develop Alzheimer's disease," Benedict pointed out.

The researchers also pointed out that several lifestyle factors, such as exercise, can influence the brain's health.

"Thus, it must be borne in mind that a multifaceted lifestyle approach comprising good sleep habits is essential for maintaining brain health as you age", Benedict stressed.

The results appeared in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

01.12.2014

Love, Care and respect. The first two you give. The last one you earn..!

29, November 2014

Artificial pancreas better than insulin pumps to treat type 1 diabetes?

Toronto, Nov 27: A study published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology suggests that artificial pancreas could be better than conventional treatment to control and treat type 1 or juvenile diabetes, by improving sugar control.  

How does the artificial pancreas work?

Type-1 diabetes is a chronic condition resulted from autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. This caused an increase in blood and urine glucose, which can cause vision loss and cardiovascular diseases.

The external artificial pancreas is an automated system that simulates the normal pancreas by continuously adapting insulin delivery based on changes in glucose levels. Artificial pancreas exist in two configurations

·         A single-hormone artificial pancreas that delivers insulin alone

·         A dual-hormone artificial pancreas that delivers both insulin and glucagon.

While insulin lowers blood glucose levels, glucagon has the opposite effect and raises glucose levels.

What did the study find?

For the study, researchers compared the dual-hormone artificial pancreas, the single-hormone artificial pancreas and the conventional insulin pump therapy for sugar control in 30 adult and adolescent patients diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes. All these patients were using an insulin pump for at least three months before enrolling themselves in the study.

‘Our study confirms that both artificial pancreas systems improve glucose control and reduce the risk of hypoglycemia compared to conventional pump therapy,’ explained engineer Ahmad Haidar, first author of the study from Institut De Recherche Clinique De Montreal (IRCM).  

What next?

The researchers are pursuing clinical trials on the artificial pancreas to test the system for longer periods and with larger patient cohorts. The technology should be available commercially within the next five to seven years, with early generations focusing on overnight glucose control.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

29.11.2014

Now, make farts smell like chocolate with these pills!

Washington, Nov 27: A French inventor, who has been working for the past eight years on making farts smell better, has claimed that his newest creation makes farts smell like chocolate. The 65-year-old Christian Poincheval’s Lutin Malin, which translates to ‘crafty imp,’ is a line of pills that help ease digestion and make farts smell like roses or violets, the Mashable reported.

Poincheval wrote on his website that the idea for the pills apparently came when they were at table with friends and after a hearty meal, they almost suffocated as their farts were smelly. Poincheval added that the winds were not very pleasant for their fellow diners and so he had to do something.

A bottle of 60 pills that are reportedly made from organic ingredients like blueberries, fennel and seaweed retails for 12.50 dollars. Poincheval added that he sells several hundred a month and Christmas always see a surge in sales.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

29.11.2014

The dream is not that you see in sleep, dream is which does not let you sleep

Dr. Abdul Kalam 

27, November 2014

Your sugar and your kidneys – What’s the connection?

Diabetes can damage the kidneys and cause them to fail. Failing kidneys lose their ability to filter out waste products, resulting in kidney disease. 

How Does Diabetes Cause Kidney Disease?

When our bodies digest the protein we eat, the process creates waste products. In the kidneys, millions of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) with even tinier holes in them act as filters. As blood flows through the blood vessels, small molecules such as waste products squeeze through the holes. These waste products become part of the urine. Useful substances, such as protein and red blood cells, are too big to pass through the holes in the filter and stay in the blood.

Diabetes can damage this system. High levels of blood sugar make the kidneys filter too much blood. All this extra work is hard on the filters. After many years, they start to leak and useful protein is lost in the urine. Having small amounts of protein in the urine is called microalbuminuria.

When kidney disease is diagnosed early, several treatments may keep kidney disease from getting worse. Having larger amounts of protein in the urine is called macroalbuminuria. When kidney disease is caught later during macroalbuminuria, end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, usually follows.

In time, the stress of overwork causes the kidneys to lose their filtering ability. Waste products then start to build up in the blood. Finally, the kidneys fail. This failure, ESRD, is very serious. A person with ESRD needs to have a kidney transplant or to have the blood filtered by machine (dialysis).

All people with diabetes have a risk of developing diabetic kidney disease. There are certain risk factors that increase the risk of developing this condition. These are:

A poor control of your blood sugar (glucose) levels.

The length of time you have had diabetes.

The more overweight you become.

Having high blood pressure- The higher your blood pressure, the greater your risk.

The better a person keeps diabetes and blood pressure under control, the lower the chance of getting kidney disease. Hence, it is vital to see a doctor regularly. The doctor can check blood pressure, urine (for protein), blood (for waste products), and organs for other complications of diabetes.

Source: www.timesofindia.com                   27.11.2014

Early maturity ups depression risk in boys too

Entering puberty ahead of their peers increases depression risk over time in both sexes - not just in girls as commonly thought, new research shows.

The researchers, however, noted that the disorder develops differently in girls than in boys.

"It is often believed that going through puberty earlier than peers only contributes to depression in girls," said study author Karen Rudolph from University of Illinois.

"We found that early maturation can also be a risk for boys as they progress through adolescence, but the timing is different than in girls," Rudolph added.

Youth who entered puberty ahead of their peers were vulnerable to a number of risks that were associated with depression.

They had poorer self-images; greater anxiety; social problems, including conflict with family members and peers; and tended to befriend peers who were prone to getting into trouble, the researchers found.

For the study, the researchers measured pubertal timing and tracked levels of depression among more than 160 youth over a four-year period.

Levels of depression among early-maturing girls were elevated at the beginning of the study and remained stable over the next three years.

"While early maturation seemed to protect boys from the challenges of puberty initially, boys experienced an emerging cascade of personal and contextual risks - negative self-image, anxiety, social problems and interpersonal stress - that eventuated in depression as they moved through adolescence," Rudolph stressed.

The study appeared in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

Source: www.timesofindia.com                 

27.11.2014

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves

 the impossible

26, November 2014

Ebola in India: Now, a helpline for Ebola information in Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 25: With an aim to spread awareness about Ebola, Delhi government has set up a control room and helpline in the city for internal monitoring of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and to provide information about the disease to the public.

All citizens of Delhi can contact the control room at 011-22307145.‘As of now Ebola has not reached India. The aim of the helpline is to follow up and to answer people’s queries regarding Ebola and its spread. The control room has been mainly set up for internal monitoring,’ said a senior Health Department official.

Also, Centre has provided 400 personnel protection equipments to the state till now and EVD related guidelines have been disseminated to all stakeholders. Government has identified Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital for management of referral cases of Ebola. At present, passengers coming from affected countries are being screened at IGI Airport where government has also set isolation and quarantine facilities for highly suspected cases.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

26.11.2014

Why festive food is harmful for type 2 diabetics

Washington, Nov 24: Overeating at a holiday get together could be harmful for people who suffer from Type 2 Diabetes, says a new study. Laila Tabatabai, M.D., an endocrinologist with Houston Methodist Hospital said that for someone who’s not in good control of their diabetes throughout the year, if they have foods with too many carbohydrates or sugars during the holiday season, it could send their blood sugar levels into a dangerously high range.

People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, but type 2 diabetes is a state of insulin resistance, which means that the body still produces insulin but does not utilize insulin properly. Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance are often due to excess weight and obesity. The complications of poorly-controlled diabetes (both type 1 and type 2) include heart disease, vision loss, nerve problems, kidney damage, and ulcers of the feet, among other serious medical problems.

Tabatabai suggested that people should try to eat two or three special things that they only see during the holiday season like some special dessert and avoid sampling everything. She added that ‘white’ carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, rice and potatoes should be avoided and substituted with whole grains, brown rice and fruits and vegetables and limit portion sizes. Tabatabai also said that for those who chose to drink alcohol, a few adult beverages would be okay if alternated with water, seltzer, diet soda, etc.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

26.11.2014

There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind

C.S.Lewis

25, November 2014

The computer is making your teens' bones weak

Researchers have found that in boys, higher screen time was adversely associated to bone mineral density (BMD) at all sites even when adjusted for specific lifestyle factors.

Results of a study showed that the skeleton grows continually from birth to the end of the teenage years, reaching peak bone mass - maximum strength and size- in early adulthood. Along with nutritional factors, physical activity can also greatly impact on this process.

The Norwegian study explored the hypothesis that greater computer use at weekends is associated with lower BMD. The data was obtained from 463 girls and 484 boys aged 15-18 years in the Tromso region of Norway. The students participated in the Fit Futures study from 2010-2011 which assessed more than 90 per cent of all first year high school students in the region.

BMD at total hip, femoral neck and total body was measured by DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). Lifestyle variables were collected by self-administered questionnaires and interviews, including questions on time per day during weekends spent in front of the television or computer, and time spent on leisure time physical activities. The associations between BMD and screen time were analyzed in a multiple regression model that included adjustment for age, sexual maturation, BMI, leisure time physical activity, smoking, alcohol, cod liver oil and carbonated drink consumption.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

25.11.2014

Modern hand dryers spread more germs

Modern hand dryers are worse than paper towels when it comes to spreading germs, according to new University of Leeds research. 

Both jet and warm air hand dryers spread bacteria into the air and onto users and those nearby. 

Airborne germ counts were 27 times higher around jet air dryers compared to the air around paper towel dispensers, said the scientists. 

"Next time you dry your hands in a public toilet using an electric hand dryer, you may be spreading bacteria without knowing it. You may also be splattered with 'bugs' from other people's hands," said Mark Wilcox, professor at the University of Leeds. 

For the study, the team contaminated hands with a harmless type of bacteria called Lactobacillus, which is not normally found in public bathrooms. 

This was done to mimic hands that have been poorly washed. 

Subsequent detection of Lactobacilli in the air proved that it must have come from the hands during drying. 

Bacterial air counts around jet air dryers were 4.5 times higher than around warm air dryers and 27 times higher compared to air around paper towels. 

Lactobacilli were detected in the air 15 minutes after hand drying, found the study. 

"These findings are important for understanding the ways in which bacteria spread, with the potential to transmit illness and disease," Wilcox said. 

The findings were published in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

25.11.2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

A moment of patience in a moment of anger saves a thousand moments of regret….

24, November 2014

New device that translates words into vibrations for the deaf

Washington, Nov 23: Scientists have created a new wearable device that translates spoken words into vibrations – helping hearing impaired people perceive speech in a completely new way.

The new device, known as the VEST (versatile extra-sensory transducer), can be worn on top of clothing or underneath.

The device depends on sensory substitution which involves feeding information from one sense into another.

‘At the end of the day, your sensory receptors are all sending electrical signals to the brain,’ Scott Novich, neuroscientist at the Baylor College of Medicine in the US, was quoted as saying in a LiveScience report.

A microphone on the vest captures sounds from the surroundings and feeds them into an Android tablet or smartphone. The smartphone then extracts the audio relevant to speech and converts it into unique patterns of vibration in about 24 sounds.

Novich and his colleague David Eagleman have tested the device on a handful of deaf and hearing volunteers. They compared two different algorithms for translating words into vibration. Both the deaf and hearing participants can learn to interpret spoken words as patterns of vibration on the skin.

The research was presented at the 44th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, DC, recently.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.11.2014

Revealed — why contact lenses cause discomfort among some users

Melbourne, Nov 23: If you are not comfortable wearing contact lenses, it could be due to degradation of the lipid layer in the eyes’ natural tear film, says a study. Patients with discomfort showed degradation of the lipid layer after a few hours of wearing contact lenses, the researchers found. The tear film is a three-layered ‘sandwich’ of fluids that nourishes and protects the eyes.

The lipid layer is the tear film’s outermost layer, which is composed of fat- and wax-like molecules called lipids. It performs an important barrier function in preventing evaporation of tears and maintaining stability of the tear film.

Discomfort is the primary reason why otherwise successful contact lens users do not wear contact lenses,’ said Anthony Adams, editor-in-chief of Optometry and Vision Science, the official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

‘Our authors identified the changes in the lipid layer of the tear film in people who have discomfort wearing contact lenses,’ Adams added.

The researchers found that applying an eyelid spray appeared to reduce drying of the tear film and help make wearing contact lenses more comfortable. After the spray was used on the eyelids, the stability of the tear film increased significantly.

The study appeared in the journal Optometry and Vision Science.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.11.2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools

 

Mahatma Gandhi

20, November 2014

A gram of turmeric a day could boost your memory

 Adding only a gram of turmeric to one’s breakfast could help improve the memory of people who are in the early stages of diabetes and at risk of developing cognitive impairment, a study indicates. For the study, professor Mark Wahlqvist from the Monash Asia Institute at the Melbourne-based Monash University tested the working memory of men and women, aged 60 or more, who had recently been diagnosed with untreated pre-diabetes in Taiwan.

Working memory is widely thought to be one of the most important mental faculties, critical for cognitive abilities such as planning, problem solving and reasoning. In the placebo-controlled study, subjects were given one gram of turmeric with an otherwise nutritionally bland breakfast of white bread. Their working memory was tested before and some hours after the meal.

‘We found that this modest addition of turmeric to breakfast improved working memory over six hours in older people with pre-diabetes,’ professor Wahlqvist added. Turmeric’s characteristic yellow colour is due to curcumin which accounts for three to six percent of turmeric and has been shown by experimental studies to reduce the risk of dementia. ‘Our findings with turmeric are consistent with earlier observations as they appear to influence cognitive function where there is disordered energy metabolism and insulin resistance,’ Wahlqvist said.

The study was published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.11.2014

Deficiency of vitamin D could lead to an early death

Vitamin D deficiency is not just bad for your bone health, it can also result in various other diseases leading to an early death, research shows. The study based on examination of genes has established for the first time a causal relationship between low Vitamin D levels and increased mortality, the researchers claimed.

‘We can see that genes associated with low Vitamin D levels involve an increased mortality rate of 30 percent and, more specifically, a 40 percent higher risk of cancer-related deaths,’ said Shoaib Afzal, medical doctor at Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. ‘An important factor in our study is that we have established a causal relationship,’ Afzal added.

When the sun shines on our skin, the skin produces Vitamin D. Evidence suggests that sunshine has a positive effect on our health, but sunburns must be avoided as they increase the risk of skin cancer. A diet rich in Vitamin D or the intake of Vitamin D supplements can also cover our need to some extent. The study involved 96,000 people from large-scale population studies in Denmark.

Vitamin D levels were measured using blood samples from the studies, and specific genetic defects were examined. All participants were followed for mortality from 1976 until 2014. ‘Our study shows that low Vitamin D levels do result in higher mortality rates,’ Borge Nordestgaard from University of Copenhagen said.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.11.2014

To be one and to be united is a great thing.But to respect the right to be different is even greater

19, November 2014

Lowering cholesterol with drugs good for heart: Study

Washington: A popular but controversial cholesterol drug called Ezetimibe has been found to lower the number of cardiovascular events by 6.4 percent when administered with another cholesterol drug, a new research says.

"The question that everyone had was, would this added lowering of LDL cholesterol translate into a real clinical benefit," said cardiologist Christopher Cannon from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US.

"The answer is yes," Cannon added.

The trial that Cannon presented at the American Heart Association's meeting in Chicago, Illinois, Monday had enrolled more than 18,000 patients and took nine years to complete.

Ezetimibe reduces cholesterol absorption by inhibiting the activity of a protein called NPC1L1, which transports free cholesterol into cells.

When combined with a statin, another cholesterol-lowering drug, Ezetimibe lowered cholesterol by an extra 20 percent compared to the statin alone, a report in the scientific journal Nature stated. In 2008, researchers found that the drug Ezetimibe had no impact on the thickness of artery walls in the neck and thigh - a measure of fatty plaque build-up.

This plaque build-up is thought to contribute to heart disease by restricting blood flow.

Hopes for Ezetimibe were bolstered last week when a genetic analysis of 7,364 people with heart disease and 14,728 controls found that people who had a rare mutation that inactivates the NPC1L1 protein had lower LDL cholesterol levels and a lower risk of coronary heart disease.

"The study affirms the central role of intensive LDL reduction in the prevention of recurrent cardiovascular events," said Neil Stone, a cardiologist at the Northwestern University in Chicago. But Stone warned that the trial was carried out in high-risk patients, a common practice used to boost the likelihood of cardiovascular events.

"The data does not speak of the use of Ezetimibe in patients with low risk," he added.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

19.11.2014

Night shift workers more prone to developing obesity: Study

New Delhi: A new study suggests that night shift workers may be more susceptible to developing obesity.

Researchers believe that disrupted circadian clocks are the reason that shift workers experience higher incidences of obesity and even diseases like cancer and type 2 diabetes.

The body's primary circadian clock, which regulates sleep and eating, is in the brain, but other body tissues also have circadian clocks, including liver, which regulates blood glucose levels. If circadian clocks are continuously disrupted, it may lead to obesity in shift workers.

The new study analysed 14 healthy adults over a six-day period.

For the first two days, the participants followed a normal schedule sleeping at night and staying awake during the day. They then transitioned to a three-day shift work schedule when their routines were reversed.

"When people are on a shift work-type schedule, their daily energy expenditure is reduced and unless they were to reduce their food intake, this by itself could lead to weight gain," said Kenneth Wright, director of University of Colorado Boulder`s Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory and senior author of the paper.

The reduction is probably linked to the mismatch between the person`s activities and their circadian clocks, said Wright. "Shift work goes against our fundamental biology," Wright, also an associate professor of integrative physiology, said in a statement.

"Shift work requires our biological day to occur at night and our biological night to occur during the day and that`s very difficult to achieve because the sun is such a powerful cue. We can have some change in our clock -- a couple of hours -- but then on days off, it goes right back. Shift workers never adapt."

The research team, however, was surprised to find that the study participants burned more fat when they slept during the day compared to when they slept at night.

The study is published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

19.11.2014

Don’t talk, just act .Don’t say, just show.Don’t promise, just prove

18, November 2014

Heart attack at hospital ups death risk

It may defy common sense but an Indian-origin cardiologist has found that patients who experience a certain type of heart attack during hospitalisation face greater risk of death than outpatients.

The heart condition the researchers focused is called ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Prashant Kaul from University of North Carolina found that patients developing inpatient-onset STEMI had more than three-fold greater in-hospital mortality than those with outpatient-onset STEMI (33.6 percent vs 9.2 percent). STEMI is a certain pattern on an electrocardiogram following a heart attack.

"The question of how to improve outcomes and define optimum treatment in hospitalised patients who experience a STEMI is an area that merits more attention and concern," Kaul noted.

"Although there have been improvements in treatment times and clinical outcomes in outpatients who have onset of STEMI, few initiatives have focused on optimising care of hospitalised patients with onset of STEMI after admission," he explained.

This study included an analysis of STEMIs occurring between 2008 and 2011 as identified in the California State Inpatient Database.

A total of 62,021 STEMIs were identified in 303 hospitals.

Patients with inpatient-onset STEMI were less likely to be discharged home (33.7 percent vs 69.4 percent), the findings showed.

The study appeared in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

18.11.2014

Reduce salt intake for better kidney health

Too much salt in one's diet increases the risk of contracting kidney problems, says a new research.

The researchers found high sodium intake (an average of 4.7g a day) is linked with an increased risk of needing dialysis, but no benefit was seen for low sodium intake (average 2g a day).

"Our findings extend the known benefits of healthy eating and show that the consumption of a healthy diet may protect from future major renal events," said Andrew Smyth from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

"As dietary modification is a low-cost, simple intervention, it offers the potential to significantly reduce the burden from chronic kidney disease, while also protecting from cardiovascular disease," Smyth added in the study involving 544,635 participants.

These findings were confirmed by a separate study that found that reducing salt intake reduces albuminuria, or excess protein in the urine, which is a hallmark of kidney dysfunction.

In the study involving 120 rural villages in China, researchers analysed the results of an 18-month sodium reduction programme.

The findings of the study led by Meg Jardine from The George Institute for International Health, in Australia and her colleagues revealed that individuals who underwent sodium reduction had a 33 percent decreased likelihood of having albuminuria compared with individuals in the control villages.

Both the studies were presented at ASN (American Society of Nephrology) Kidney Week Nov 11-16, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

18.11.2014

I’m only responsible for what I say not for what you understand