1 February, 2013

New compound may prevent asthma

A new compound has shown promise in preventing asthma by targeting its causative mechanisms rather than just treating the symptoms.

The drug, originally developed by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to treat leukaemia, is able to activate a protein that is suppressed during asthma. It could enable doctors to treat the causes, not just the symptoms.

The research centres on the role played by two proteins in the lungs in causing asthma attacks. When they come into contact with the common cold virus and dust mites, the two main asthma triggers, they work together to produce a series of events that cause an attack, reports the journal Nature Medicine.

"Asthma is one of the major diseases of the developed world. It's very rare to find a compound that can reverse the symptoms of asthma," Anthony Don from UNSW, who started working on the compound in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia, was quoted as saying in a university statement.

"The important thing with this compound is that it's not just alleviating the symptoms, it's hitting at an underlying disease mechanism," says Don, a team leader at UNSW's Lowy Cancer Research Centre.

Jonathan Morris, associate professor from the UNSW School of Chemistry, synthesised the compound.

The development is also significant because asthma attacks are currently treated similarly regardless of whether they are caused by viruses or allergens, but virus-induced effects are much less responsive to current therapies.

The compound could also be used in the treatment of other inflammatory diseases.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

01.02.2013

Smoking also costs smiles!

Studies prove that kicking the butt helps people become happier

Okay guys! Time to bust the myth: Smoking does not help ease anxiety. Rather it leads to release of stress hormones, according to experts.

And if you think that a 'happy ever after' is just meant for the last page of fairy tales, then you have got to know what researchers at Brown University and the University of Southern California think. Researchers have found that quitting smoking makes people happier, and the effect lasts for as long as they manage to kick the habit. The teams said it showed quitting is not, as many smokers fear, a psychological sacrifice made for the sake of their physical health.

Study author Christopher Kahler from Brown University explains, "If people quit smoking, their depressive symptoms go down. And if they relapse, their mood goes back to where they were. An effective anti-depressant should look like that."

Psychiatrist Dr Dayal Mirchandani agrees, "Smoking takes away from a lot of things. It affects one's sense of smell, taste and even stamina. Once you stop smoking, you begin to recover these senses, and it definitely helps better the quality of life."

Now, the argument is, it's easier said then done. Agreed. But advancements in science could well be the answer. "Nicotine replacement therapy, using gum and a patch together, has been quite effective," informs Dr Mirchandani. Internist Dr Mursalin Shaikh says nicotine tablets are also prescribed to those, who express their desire to quit smoking.

Those who intend to quit, and have tried and failed, or fear failure even before trying, Dr Shaikh advises they take a three-step approach. "First, a strong will power is necessary. Be determined." But he says not to be harsh, as, "Smokers often find it difficult to stick to their resolution to quit due to other problems that come along in the process. Some face constipation if they don't smoke while others lose sleep. Therefore, if you've identified such an allied issue, approach your doctor for a remedy. It makes the process easier," he says.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

01.02.2013

Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist

Mary Kay Ash

31 January, 2013

Boys born in 2015 at high prostate cancer risk

Boys born in 2015 will have a 14 per cent chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer - three times higher than those born 25 years ago, a report has warned.

According to Cancer Research UK, the lifetime risk of getting the disease will rise from 5 percent for lads born in 1990 to 14 per cent for boys born 25 years later, the Mirror reported.

This may be because of more use of the Prostate Specific Antigen test (PSA) and also because more men are living to an olderage, when the disease is most likely to develop.

PSA tests detect lots of different types of the disease, including some that are not life-threatening, as well as the aggressive forms of the disease.

But the test does not distinguish between the two.

Cancer Research UK's prostate cancer expert Prof Malcolm Mason said they are detecting more cases of prostate cancer than ever before.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.01.2013

Fried food ups chances of prostate cancer

Fried food ups chances of prostate cancer (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)

If you love French fries and gorge on fried chicken, you could be heading for trouble in the shape of aggressive prostate cancers, warns a new study.

Regular consumption of deep fries such as French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts is linked to aggressive versions of prostate cancers, says a research by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Previous studies have suggested that eating foods made with high-heat cooking methods, such as grilled meats, may increase prostate cancer risk, the journal The Prostate reports.

Janet L. Stanford, co-director of the Hutchinson Center's Program in Prostate Cancer Research and colleagues found that men who reportedly ate such foods once a week were at a heightened risk of prostate cancer as compared to men who consumed them less than once a month, according to a Hutchinson statement.

"The link between prostate cancer and select deep-fried foods appeared to be limited to the highest level of consumption - defined in our study as more than once a week - which suggests that regular consumption of deep-fried foods confers particular risk for developing prostate cancer," Stanford said.

Possible mechanisms behind the increased cancer risk, Stanford hypothesises, include the fact that when oil is heated to temperatures suitable for deep frying, potentially carcinogenic compounds can form in the fried food.

The study involved 1,549 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and 1,492 men who did not have the cancer.

Men who ate one or more of these foods at least weekly had an increased risk of prostate cancer that ranged from 30 to 37 percent. Weekly consumption of these foods was also associated with a slightly greater risk of more aggressive prostate cancer.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.01.2013

Tattooing could lead to hepatitis C

After a new study found a link between tattooing and hepatitis C, researchers are hoping that people will do some thinking about where to get their body art.

According to co-author Dr. Fritz Francois of New York University Langone Medical Center, people with the virus were almost four times more likely to report having a tattoo, even when other major risk factors were taken into account, Fox News reported.

Although the study could not prove a direct cause and effect, "Tattooing in and of itself may pose a risk for this disease that can lay dormant for many, many years," Francois said.

About 3.2 million people in the US have hepatitis C, and many don't know because they don't feel ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver cancer and most common reason for liver transplants in the US. Some 70 percent of people infected will develop chronic liver disease, and up to 5 percent will die from cirrhosis or liver cancer.

For the current study, researchers asked almost 2,000 people about their tattoos and hepatitis status, among other questions, at outpatient clinics at three New York area hospitals between 2004 and 2006.

Researchers found that 34 percent of people with hepatitis C had a tattoo, compared to 12 percent of people without the infection.

The most common routes of contracting hepatitis C, a blood-borne disease, are through a blood transfusion before 1992 or a history of injected drug use.

Injected drug use accounts for 60 per cent of new hepatitis cases every year, but 20 percent of cases have no history of injected drug use or other exposure, according to the CDC.

The findings are published in the journal Hepatology.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.01.2013

Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time

Brian Tracy

30 January, 2013

Facebook usage can reveal mental illness

Scientists believe that a person’s Facebook profile could reveal signs of mental illness that might not emerge during regular sessions with a psychiatrist. Social media activity when used as a tool in psychological diagnosis can remove some of the problems associated with self-reporting. ‘‘For example, questionnaires often depend on a person’s memory, which may or may not be accurate. By asking patients to share their Facebook activity, we were able to see how they expressed themselves naturally,’ said study researcher Elizabeth Martin. ‘Even the parts of their Facebook activities that they chose to conceal exposed information about their psychological state,’ said Martin. Social media profiles could eventually be used as tools for psychologists and therapists, according to Martin, doctoral student in MU’s psychological science department in the College of Arts and Science. ‘Therapists could possibly use social media activity to create a more complete clinical picture of a patient,’ Martin said in a statement.

Martin’s team asked participants to print their Facebook activity and correlated aspects of that activity with the degree to which those individuals exhibited schizotypy, a range of symptoms including social withdrawal to odd beliefs. Some study participants showed signs of the schizotypy condition known as social anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure from usually enjoyable activities, such as communicating and interacting with others.

People with social anhedonia tended to have fewer friends on Facebook, communicated with friends less frequently and shared fewer photos. Other study participants concealed significant portions of their Facebook profile before presenting them to researchers. These participants also showed schizotypy symptoms, known as perceptual aberrations, which are anomalous experiences of one’s senses, and magical ideation, which is the belief that events with no physical cause-and-effect are somehow causally connected. Hiding Facebook activity also was considered a sign of higher levels of paranoia.

The study was published in the journal Psychiatry Research.

Source: http://health.india.com

30.01.2013

Sons more likely to get treatment for chest infections in India

Even when it comes to hospitalizing their children, Indians discriminate between their sons and daughters. A male child with acute chest infections is nearly three times more likely to receive hospital care than a girl child in India.

This was announced on Tuesday by scientists from the University of Edinburgh in the UK who conducted a first-of-its-kind large scale study. The study noted that this was because male children are slightly more susceptible to such illnesses and because families are more likely to ensure the sons receive health care. This gender disparity was visible across the developing world and was most pronounced in South Asia. In some areas of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, up to four times as many boys under five receive hospital care for chest infections compared with girls, the study published in the British medical journal the Lancet says.

According to the study, around 38% of children under five who became critically ill from chest infections did not even reach hospitals.

‘Boys are biologically 1.2 times more prone to be suffering from severe chest infections than girls. It is mainly due to smaller airways among boys. But in India, the difference becomes more acute in the ratio of boys getting hospitalized for pneumonia than girls confirming gender as the main reason behind the trend,’ Dr Harish Nair from the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Population Health Sciences, who led the study told TOI. ‘This study shows that much more could be done to reduce infection and save lives, such as by improving access to hospitals in the developing world, or by ensuring that both boys and girls receive similar health care,’ he said.

The study was conducted by a large international consortium of 76 researchers from 39 institutions, in 24 countries and was supported by the WHO. The study also reported that in Yamunanagar in Haryana, a boy aged 0-11 months is 3.2 times more likely to get hospitalized than a girl child. In Vellore, it is 1.8 times more likely and in Ballabgarh, it is 3.7 times more likely.

12 million children under five are hospitalised worldwide with chest infections each year. A male child in Southeast Asia is 1.9 times more likely to receive hospital care when affected with pneumonia while it is 1.3 times in the US and in Africa it is 1.4 times.

Source: http://health.india.com                           30.01.2013

Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability

Flower A. Newhouse

29 January, 2013

To lose more weight exercise on empty stomach

Early risers who exercise before breakfast can burn up to 20% more body fat than others who exercised after having something to eat, says a study.

Researchers sought to find out if the known benefits of exercising after an overnight fast were undermined by an increased appetite and eating more food later in the day.

A team from University of Northumbria at Newcastle asked 12 active men to perform a bout of treadmill exercise at 10 am, either after having breakfast or in a fasted state; having not eaten since the previous evening.

After their exercise, all participants were given a chocolate milkshake recovery drink.

Later in the day, participants were provided with a pasta lunch which they were asked to eat until they felt "comfortably full".

Their lunchtime consumption of energy and fat was assessed and calculated, taking into account the amount of energy and fat burned during the morning period.

The researchers, led by Emma Stevenson and Javier Gonzalez, found the ones who had exercised in the morning did not consume additional calories or experience increased appetite during the day to compensate for their earlier activity.

It was also found that those who exercised in a fasted state managed to burn nearly 20% more fat than those who had taken breakfast before their workout.

It showed that performing exercise on an empty stomach provides the most desirable outcome for fat loss.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

29.01.2013

Over 33,000 die of cancer in Punjab in 5 yrs: Minister

As many as 33,318 people have lost their lives due to cancer in the past five years in Punjab, Health and Family Welfare minister Madan Mohan Mittal said here on Monday.

At least 23,874 people are suffering from the disease, he said releasing a report of the state-wide "Cancer Awareness & Symptom-Based Early Detection Door-to-Door Campaign". Besides, nearly 84,453 people have shown symptoms of cancer, the minister said.

Altogether 2,64,84,434 people in 50,53,447 households were covered in 12,603 villages and 217 cities and towns under the campaign, he said.

This amounts to 97.78 per cent of the state's population, going by the latest census, Mittal said adding the campaign was held between October two and 31, 2012.

Diagnostic and treatment facilities available with the state government will be free for those showing symptoms of cancer or suffering from the disease, the minister said.

"All the suspects and those suffering from cancer have been provided referral cards specially designed for the campaign," he said.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

29.01.2013

Fear is natural. Failure is normal. But Fear of Failure is a choice

Collins Hasty

28 January, 2013

Hot food in plastic plates cause kidney stones

Plastic plates are a favourite of parents and picnic-goers the world over, but new research suggests that eating hot meals on melamine crockery could actually be harmful to health.

Taiwanese researchers have found that hot temperatures increase the amount of melamine we are exposed to - and this can increase the risk of kidney stones, the Daily Mail reported.

They studied two groups of people who ate piping hot noodle soup. One group ate from melamine bowls, the other from ceramic bowls. Urine samples were collected before the meal, and every two hours for 12 hours following the meal.

Three weeks later, the volunteers consumed the same kind of soup but the type of bowl they used was reversed. Urine samples were collected again.

Total melamine levels in urine for 12 hours after eating the soup was 8.35 micrograms when the participants ate out of the melamine bowls versus about 1.3 micrograms when they ate out of ceramic bowls.

Lead researcher by Chia-Fang Wu, of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, said: "Melamine tableware may release large amounts of melamine when used to serve high-temperature foods."

He noted that both higher temperatures (from hot soups, for example) or more acidic foods can encourage melamine to contaminate food, especially in older or low-quality kitchenware.

But he added that the amount of melamine released into food and beverages from melamine tableware varies by brand, so the results of this study of one brand may not be generalised to other brands. However the results suggest it is advisable to serve hot food on ceramic crockery, to be on the safe side.

They added that it's not yet clear what effect all of this might have on human health. However, prior studies have linked chronic, low-dose melamine exposures to an increased risk for kidney stones in both children and adults, the researchers said.

Studies of melamine toxicity in animals indicate that ingestion can cause kidney stones, kidney damage and may induce cancer.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

28.01.2013

Leprosy rates decline in Delhi

Leprosy has been eliminated from the national capital as a public health problem, Delhi Health Minister A.K. Walia said Thursday after a considerable drop in the prevalence rate of the disease.

The rate has declined from 4.5 cases per 10,000 population in 2001, to 0.8 cases at present, Walia said.

"As per World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, when the number of leprosy patients come down below one case per 10,000 populations, the disease is said to have been eliminated as a public health problem," he said.

"It can be said that leprosy has been eliminated from the capital city as a public health problem," he said.

In the national capital alone 1,340 patients are taking treatment for leprosy from various healthcare institutions. Apart from them 1,602 from other states and country like Nepal take treatment in Delhi hospitals.

"Many patients come to Delhi for leprosy treatment because multi-drug therapy, which is very effective against mycobacterium leprae, is available here," the minister said.

Leprosy is a disease caused by the bacteria mycobacterium leprae and it affects mainly the skin and nerves. The symptoms appear very slowly, taking on an average two to five years to manifest.

Apart from this, Delhi government is also increasing the financial aid for leprosy patients who are undergoing reconstructive surgery, so that their families can be supported better.

"The health department of the Delhi government is enhancing the amount of financial support given to leprosy patients undergoing reconstructive surgery from Rs.5,000 to Rs.8,000 from April this year," Walia said.

The minister also inaugurated a reconstructive surgery facility for correction of claw-hand and foot-drop at Guru Gobind Singh Hospital in west Delhi.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

28.01.2013

Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm

 Winston Churchill

23 January, 2013

Are you overweight? Don't just blame fast food, it's in your DNA!

It’s not just what you eat that makes those pants tighter — it’s also genetics, researchers have claimed. In a new study, scientists discovered that body-fat responses to a typical fast-food diet are determined in large part by genetic factors, and they have identified several genes they say may control those responses.

The study is the first of its kind to detail metabolic responses to a high-fat, high-sugar diet in a large and diverse mouse population under defined environmental conditions, modeling closely what is likely to occur in human populations. The researchers found that the amount of food consumed contributed only modestly to the degree of obesity.

“Our research demonstrates that body-fat responses to high-fat, high-sugar diets have a very strong genetic component, and we have identified several genetic factors potentially regulating these responses,” first author Dr Brian Parks, a postdoctoral researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said.

“We found that obesity has similar genetic signatures in mice and humans, indicating the mice are a highly relevant model system to study obesity. Overall, our work has broad implications concerning the genetic nature of obesity and weight gain,” he said. The dramatic increase in obesity over the past few decades has been tightly associated with an increase in obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

And while high-calorie diets containing high levels of fat and sugar, along with sedentary lifestyles, have been considered the most significant environmental factors contributing to this epidemic, the new UCLA research demonstrates that body-fat responses to food are strongly inherited and linked to our DNA.

The researchers note that overconsumption of high-calorie, high-sugar food is an important factor contributing to the obesity epidemic, but stress that food consumption is only one of many environmental factors that affect obesity.

The findings are published in the online edition of the journal Cell Metabolism.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

23.01.2013

Aspirin may cause age-related blindness?

The risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in older people, may increase due to aspirin, a drug for prevention of cardiovascular disease, says an Australian study.

Aspirin is one of the world’s most popular drugs for prevention of cardiovascular disease like myocardial infarction (heart attack) and ischemic stroke (poor blood supply to heart). While a recent study suggested that regular aspirin use was linked with AMD, particularly the more visually devastating neovascular (wet) form, other studies have reported inconsistent findings. Smoking is also a preventable risk factor for AMD, according to the study authors, the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, reports.

Gerald Liew, from the University of Sydney and colleagues examined whether regular aspirin use (once or more per week) was tied to a higher risk of AMD by conducting a prospective analysis of data from a study that included four examinations during a 15-year period. Of 2,389 participants, 257 individuals (10.8 percent) were regular aspirin users. After the 15-year follow-up, 63 individuals (24.5 percent) developed incident neovascular AMD, according to a Sydney statement.

‘The cumulative incidence of neovascular AMD among non-regular aspirin users was 0.8 percent at five years, 1.6 percent at 10 years and 3.7 percent at 15 years; among regular aspirin users, the cumulative incidence was 1.9 percent at five years, 7 percent at 10 years and 9.3 percent at 15 years, respectively,’ the authors note.

Source: http://health.india.com

23.01.2013

Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out

 John Wooden

22 January, 2013

Irregular beats spell higher risk of kidney failure

The risk of kidney failure is greater for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially those suffering from atrial fibrillation - a common form of irregular heart beats in adults, says a study.

The findings by the researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research could open the way to new approaches, with improved outcomes for CKD patients.

Those who suffer with CKD or end-stage renal disease commonly have atrial fibrillation and tend to have a stroke or to die. However, the long-term impact of atrial fibrillation on kidney function among CKD patients has been unknown, the journal Circulation reports.

The new study involved 206,229 CKD patients who were drawn from members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a large integrated health care delivery system, according to an UCSF statement.

Over the course of about five years, approximately 16,400 patients developed atrial fibrillation, and those who did were 67 percent more likely to progress to end-stage renal disease compared with patients who had CKD, but did not develop atrial fibrillation.

"These novel findings expand on previous knowledge by highlighting that atrial fibrillation is linked to a worse kidney prognosis in patients with underlying kidney dysfunction," said kidney specialist Nisha Bansal, assistant professor of Nephrology at UCSF.

"There is a knowledge gap about the long-term impact of atrial fibrillation on the risk of adverse kidney-related outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease," said senior study co-author Alan S. Go, director of the Comprehensive Clinical Research Unit at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

22.01.2013

'Good gut bugs keep diabetes at bay'

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The staggering number of good bugs in our lower intestine not only ensure good health but may also help ward off diabetes, researchers say.

These bugs help us digest our food and provide us with energy and vitamins and help ward off the 'bad guys' such as Salmonella that cause infections.

Research groups led by Jayne Danska, from the Sick Children's Hospital, University of Toronto and Andrew Macpherson in the Clinic for Visceral Surgery and Medicine, University of Bern have now shown that the influence of the intestinal bacteria extends even deeper inside the body to influence the likelihood of getting diabetes.

"We hope that our new understanding of how intestinal bacteria may protect susceptible children from developing diabetes will allow us to start to develop new treatments to stop children getting the disease," says Macpherson, according to a Toronto statement.

In children and young people, diabetes is caused by the immune cells of the body damaging the special cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. By chance, 30 years ago, before the development of genetic engineering techniques, Japanese investigators noticed that a strain of NOD lab mice tended to get diabetes.

These mice (also by chance) have many of the same genes that make some humans susceptible to the disease. With the help of the special facilities of the University of Bern and in Canada, these teams have been able to show that the intestinal bacteria, especially in male mice, can produce biochemicals and hormones that stop diabetes developing.

Even the biochemical reactions that build up and maintain our bodies come from our intestinal bacteria as well as our own cells.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

22.01.2013

Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners

 Robert T. Kiyosaki

21 January, 2013

High-end diagnostic centre to be launched in India

Now the wait for the results of the high-end diagnostic tests is set to get shorter with Core Diagnostics planning to launch operation in India. Core Diagnostics is a global connected network of clinical laboratories.

‘We will launch a high-end diagnostic laboratory in Gurgaon. We will make those high-end diagnostics tests available in India, for which samples used to go to the US and other countries,’ Arghya Basu, co-founder of the company, told IANS on the launch Saturday. ‘Earlier, patients had to wait for long for the results of their diagnostic tests but now with high-end laboratory there will be no wait for them,’ Zoya Brar, director of Core Diagnostic, said.

‘Effective treatment for any disease begins with an accurate and timely diagnosis. Our aim at Core is to bridge the diagnostic deficit,’ said Core Diagnostics’s chief executive officer (CEO) Mohan Talwar.

Source: http://health.india.com

21.01.2013

Exercising after eating a heavy meal prevents potential heart health issues!

Do you want to get rid of the guilt and potential heart-related health risks after a particularly high fat meal? Just exercise! A new study by Japanese researchers found that a little bit of walking and light resistance training after a heavy meal reduces the boost in triglycerides, fats in blood and other effects normally seen after consuming this type of food.

The study went on to say that exercising afterwards did was better for reducing increased triglyceride levels than before. High levels of triglycerides are known to increase risks of heart disease. While studies have shown that exercise reduces triglyceride levels, few of them have ever looked at the effect of exercise shortly after eating. However, the research team added that this was a small study and further research was needed to know whether these results apply to the general population.

In the study, researchers from Kyoto Prefectural University measured triglyceride levels in ten men and women after they ate a meal consisting of 38% fat. On two separate days people exercise either an hour before or after eating the meal. On the third day, none of them exercised. This is what they observed

• When people didn’t exercise, the triglyceride levels rose from 66 mg/dL to 172 mg/dL
• When they exercised before eating, the levels rose to 148 mg/dL within two hours of eating
• When people exercised after eating, the levels increased to 131 mg/dL

Six hours after eating the high-fat meal, all participants’ triglyceride levels were the about the same, regardless of whether or not they had exercised. However, even temporary increases in triglyceride levels after eating a high-fat meal may increase cardiovascular disease risk, the researchers said. Exercising after a fatty meal may accelerate the rate at which the body uses fat, thus reducing triglyceride levels, the researchers said.

The study was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Source: http://health.india.com

21.01.2013

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears

 Les Brown