31 January, 2019

Cancer causes premature ageing, reveals study

A new study, from the University of East Anglia, now finds that leukaemia promotes premature ageing in healthy bone marrow cells. The findings, published in the journal Blood show that healthy bone marrow cells were prematurely aged by cancer cells around them. While it is already known that ageing promotes cancer development, this is the first time that the reverse has been shown to be true. The study found that the aged bone marrow cells accelerated the growth and development of the leukaemia – creating a vicious cycle that fuels the disease.

The research was led by Dr Stuart Rushworth from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, in collaboration with the Earlham Institute and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (UK) and the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing in California. It was funded by the Rosetrees Trust and Norfolk’s Big C Charity.

The researchers also found the mechanism by which this process of premature ageing occurs in the bone marrow of leukaemia patients and highlights the potential impact this could have on future treatments. Speaking about it, Dr Rushworth said, “Our results provide evidence that cancer causes ageing. We have clearly shown that the cancer cell itself drives the ageing process in the neighbouring non-cancer cells.”He further added, “Our research reveals that leukaemia uses this biological phenomenon to its advantage to accelerate the disease.”The researchers found that NOX2, an enzyme usually involved in the body’s response to infection, was shown to be present in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells – and this was found to be responsible for creating the ageing conditions.

The research team established that the NOX2 enzyme generates superoxide which drives the ageing process. By inhibiting NOX2, researchers showed the reduction in aged neighbouring non-malignant cells resulted in slower cancer growth. Dr Rushworth added, “It was not previously known that leukaemia induces ageing of the local non-cancer environment. We hope that this biological function can be exploited in future, paving the way for new drugs.”

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

31.01.2019

Never change your originality for the sake of others, because no one can play your role better than you

28 January, 2019

Decoding the link between poor oral health and Alzheimer’s

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, identified Porphyromonas gingivalis — the keystone pathogen in chronic periodontitis — in the brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients.  Toxic proteases from the bacterium called gingipains were also identified in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients, and levels correlated with tau and ubiquitin pathology. The findings offer hope for a new way of tackling the illness, for which there is no cure and no effective treatments, the BBC reported.

Tests on mice confirmed the bacteria could travel from the mouth to the brain and showed the toxic protein they secrete, called gingipain, which destroyed brain neurons. The bacteria also increased production of amyloid beta, a component of the amyloid plaques commonly associated with Alzheimer’s. Following this, scientists Stephen Dominy from founders of the pharmaceutical firm Cortexyme, tested drugs in mice aimed at blocking the toxic proteins and found they were able to halt degeneration in the brain.

The same bacteria was further found in 51 out of 53 brain autopsies of Alzheimer’s disease patients. The team has now developed a new drug they hope could form the basis of a human treatment and plan to test it in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s, in a clinical trial later in 2019.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

28.01.2019

If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results

Jack Dixon

24 January, 2019

Negative experience on social media can lead to loneliness: Study

Negative experiences on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter increase the odds of feeling lonely especially among young adults, a new study has found. Positive interactions on social media are not making young adults feel more connected, whereas negative experiences increase the likelihood of them reporting loneliness, said scientists from the University of Pittsburgh’s Centre for Research on Media Technology and Health (MTH).

“Social media is, seemingly, about connecting people. So it is surprising and interesting that our investigations reveal social media being linked to loneliness,” said lead author Brian Primack, Director of Pitt’s MTH. Perceived social isolation, which is a synonym for loneliness, is associated with poor health outcomes, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and depression, he added in a paper published in the journal American Journal of Health Promotion. Primack and his team surveyed 1,178 students aged 18 to 30 about their social media use, to what extent their experiences were positive or negative, and their level of perceived loneliness.

For every 10 percent increase in negative experiences on social media, the participants reported a 13 percent increase in feelings of loneliness. However, for every 10 percent increase in positive experiences on social media, the participants reported no statistically significant change in feelings of loneliness. “There is a tendency for people to give greater weight to negative experiences and traits compared with positive ones, and this may be particularly relevant when it comes to social media,” said study author Jaime Sidani.

“Health practitioners may encourage the public to be more cognizant and thoughtful regarding their online experiences, thereby interrupting a potential cycle of negative experiences and loneliness,” added Primack. Because social media is so pervasive, it is critically important that we better understand why this is happening and how we can help people navigate social media without as many negative consequences, wrote researchers.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.01.2019

The greater damage for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it too low and we reach it

Michelangelo

21 January, 2019

Protein enabling other drugs to increase body’s HDL levels identified

Researchers have identified a protein, known as ORP2, responsible for transporting cholesterol inside cells that opens the way for new drugs to increase the body’s ‘good cholesterol’ levels. ORP2 can increase the amount of cholesterol in cells, a process called cholesterol efflux. We think this pathway will be very important for the development of a drug to increase this good cholesterol, said Rob Yang, Professor from the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Until now, drugs including statins have targeted bad cholesterol (LDL) by inhibiting its synthesis in the liver in an effort to mitigate the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, while statins are effective at lowering LDL levels, they do little to increase the levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and there is no other drug in use that can significantly boost the human body’s HDL levels. Up to 90 percent of a cell’s cholesterol is found at the cell’s plasma membrane, said the study published in the journal Molecular Cell.

“Knowing the molecules that deliver cholesterol to the plasma membrane itself is a huge step forward. The transport of cholesterol to the plasma membrane is the key to the generation of HDL. If such a drug could be developed, it would not replace statins, but would be used complementarily, with one drug used to reduce the bad cholesterol and the other to increase levels of the good, Yang suggested. Importantly, ORP2 could also be targeted to fight cancer.

The rampant and uncontrolled growth of cells that characterizes cancer could be stopped in its tracks by reducing the amount of cholesterol produced. ORP2 could offer a new strategic line of research and possibly succeed where the use of statins in this area hasn’t, Yang noted.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

21.01.2019

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive

Albert Einstein

18 January, 2019

Maintain healthy heart-health behaviour to keep diabetes risk at bay: Study

If you are suffering from diabetes, then following some lifestyle and health factors may prove to be good for your heart and can help prevent disorders, says a new study. The study showed that individuals who were in the recommended, ideal ranges for at least four of Life’s Simple seven health factors had a 70 percent lower risk of developing diabetes over the next 10 years.

The Life’s Simple seven health factors include maintaining healthy blood pressure, glucose levels and cholesterol, eating a healthy diet, exercising at least 150 minutes per week, not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight, said the paper published in the journal Diabetologia. “This research adds to our collective understanding about how physicians can help their patients prevent a number of serious diseases, including heart disease, cancer and now diabetes,” said K. Craig Kent, at The Ohio State University College in the US.

In addition, those in normal blood glucose levels who attained four or more guideline factors had an 80 percent lower risk of developing diabetes, whereas those who were already diabetic or prediabetic and met four of the factors had no change in lowering their risk for diabetes, said Joshua J. Joseph, Assistant Professor at the varsity. For the study, the researchers included 7,758 participants and used the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple seven as a guide for measuring heart health among the group.

“Healthy people need to work to stay healthy. Follow the guidelines. Don’t proceed to high blood sugar and then worry about stopping diabetes. By that point, people need high-intensity interventions that focus on physical activity and diet to promote weight loss and, possibly, medications to lower the risk of diabetes,” said Joseph. Community outreach is essential to educating people about prevention and helping them start healthy habits.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

18.01.2019

The more I help others to succeed, the more I succeed

Ray Kroc

16 January, 2019

Too much or too less sleep can increase heart disease risk, finds study

Men who sleep less than six hours a night may be at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who sleep between seven and eight hours, a new study suggests. The study showed that poor quality sleep of less than six hours increases the risk of atherosclerosis by 27 percent compared to seven to eight hours of sleep.

Atherosclerosis refers to the build-up of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on the artery walls throughout the body. On the other hand, women who slept more than eight hours a night had an increased risk of atherosclerosis. “Cardiovascular disease is a major global problem and we are preventing and treating it using several approaches, including pharmaceuticals, physical activity and diet,” said Jose M. Ordovas, researcher at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) in Madrid.

“But the study emphasizes we have to include sleep as one of the weapons we use to fight heart disease — a factor we are compromising every day,” he added. For the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the team included 3,974 bank employees among which all were without known heart disease and two-thirds were men. In addition, alcohol and caffeine consumption were found to cause short and disrupted sleep.

“Many people think alcohol is a good inducer of sleep, but there’s a rebound effect. If you drink alcohol, you may wake up after a short period of sleep and have a hard time getting back to sleep. And if you do get back to sleep, it’s often a poor-quality sleep,” Ordovas said. Lack of sleep has been known to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease by increasing heart disease risk factors such as glucose levels, blood pressure, inflammation and obesity.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

16.01.2019

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud

Maya Angelou

9 January, 2019

Breastfeeding is linked to being a righty or lefty, finds research

Are you a leftie or a righty? The duration for which a child is breastfed may determine handedness or the dominant hand says research. The study, from the University of Washington, suggests that the prevalence of left-handedness is lower among breastfed infants. Children breastfed for longer than nine months were associated with the prevalence of right-handedness.

On the other hand, bottle-fed infants were associated with left-handedness. The reason could be because the region of the brain that controls handedness localises to one side of the brain. Possibly, breastfeeding optimises this process towards becoming right or left-handed, the researchers explained.

“We think breastfeeding optimises the process the brain undergoes when solidifying handedness,” said Philippe Hujoel, a professor from the varsity. “That’s important because it provides an independent line of evidence that breastfeeding may need to last six to nine months,” Hujoel added. For the study, the researchers included 62,129 mother-child pairs.

The findings, published in the journal Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, showed that breastfeeding for less than one month, one to six months, and more than six months, when compared to bottle feeding, was associated with a nine per cent, 15 per cent and 22 per cent decreased prevalence of non right-handedness, respectively. However, the study does not imply that breastfeeding leads to right-handedness, Hujoel emphasised.

Handedness, whether it be right- or left-handed, is set early in fetal life and is at least partially determined by genetics, he noted.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

09.01.2019

Forget your weaknesses, increase your strengths, and be the most awesome you, that you can be

7 January, 2019

Painless method to monitor glucose levels for diabetics discovered

Researchers have designed a microneedle patch for people with diabetes to enable them to monitor their glucose levels throughout the day in a “painless” manner. Continuous monitoring is a way to safely and reliably lower blood glucose – giving the user a full picture of their glucose levels throughout the day and helping them avoid severe hypoglycemia. But the currently used continuous glucose monitoring systems (known as CGMS) are uncomfortable since they require a minimum 7mm needle inserted into the skin. Owing to their size, they take measurements in the fat tissue – not the most ideal location.

However, the new device, developed by researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, is 50 times smaller. When applied to a human participant’s forearm, the combination of the patch and an extremely miniaturized three-electrode enzymatic sensor was found capable of correctly and dynamically tracking blood glucose levels over time, with a delay of about 10 minutes.

“Our solution is painless to the user. We measure directly in the skin, and there are no nerve receptors that detect pain – just a fine mesh of very tiny blood vessels,” Federico Ribe, a doctoral student at the institute, said. Unlike commercially available CGMS which measure the subcutaneous fat tissue, the new device measures within the skin less than 1mm deep, Ribet said.

This would offer an alternative to pricking one’s fingers several times a day to take a blood test and the frequency of finger prick tests could be reduced with a glucose monitoring system, he noted.

The team has successfully tested the prototype of a microneedle patch on a human participant and the completion of a system for clinical tests is now underway.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

07.01.2019

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced

Søren Kierkegaard

5 January, 2019

Those with dark-coloured eyes at higher risk of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Feeling blue in winter? It may be due to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Do you have dark coloured eyes? You are at a greater risk of suffering from SAD. A new research published in Open Access Journal of Behavioural Science & Psychology has shown how people who have dark/brown eyes ‘demonstrate higher levels of SAD‘ when compared with those with light/blue eyes. The study notes that ‘an individual’s mood varies with the seasons such that the sufferer is often ‘up-beat’ in summer, being high spirited and full of energy but, in contrast, depressed in winter with low spirit and lethargy.’ The study examined ‘the relationship between eye colouration and levels of reported mood variability with the seasons.’ With regard to eye colouration, ‘a significant difference was uncovered between blue/light eyed and brown/dark-eyed individuals across the samples with the latter self-reporting higher levels of mood variability with the seasons.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

According to the research, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a form of recurrent depression which has a seasonal pattern. In the most common form, winter SAD, periods of low mood occur during the winter months, accompanied by an increase in sleepiness, a shift to high starch foods and social withdrawal. In contrast, during the summer, such sufferers are frequently described as upbeat and demonstrate insomnia and high levels of activity. Winter SAD occurs in between 1-10% of the population depending, in part, on the latitude at which the sufferer lives. In the case of summer SAD, low mood occurs during the summer months, although this tends to be an anxious form of depression rather than a lethargic one and there is remission during the winter. Summer SAD is only observed in about 10% of the proportion of winter sufferers, says the study.

Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder

Some of the symptoms of SAD are sad mood and low energy, irritability, frequent crying, feeling tired and lethargic, having difficulty concentrating, sleeping more than normal, lacking energy, decreasing their activity levels, withdrawing from social situations, craving carbohydrates and sugars, and tendency towards weight gain weight due to overeating.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

05.01.2019

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind

 C.S. Lewis

3 January, 2019

Approximately 69,944 babies born in India on New Year Day: UNICEF

India is estimated to have welcomed 18 percent of the total babies born globally on January 1, 2019, UNICEF said on Tuesday.

According to the UNICEF, 69,944 babies were expected to be born on the New Year Day out of 3,95,072 babies likely to be born across the world.

As per UNICEF, globally over half of these births are estimated to taken place in seven countries, along with India like China (44,940), Nigeria (25,685), Pakistan (15,112), Indonesia (13,256), the US (11,086), Democratic Republic of Congo (10,053), and Bangladesh (8,428).

Sydney was set to greet an estimated 168 babies, followed by Tokyo (310), Beijing (605), Madrid (166) and finally, New York (317). Fiji in the Pacific was likely to deliver 2019’s first baby and the US its last.

“This New Year Day, let’s all make a resolution to fulfill every right of every girl and boy, starting with the right to survive. We can save millions of babies if we invest in training and equipping local health workers so that every newborn is born into a safe pair of hands,” said Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India Representative, said.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

03.01.2019

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people

Eleanor Roosevelt