29 June, 2013

Babies can understand each other’s moods

Infants can recognize each other's emotions by five months of age, a new study from Brigham Young University has found. 

"Newborns can't verbalize to their mom or dad that they are hungry or tired, so the first way they communicate is through affect or emotion," said psychology professor Ross Flom. 

"Thus it is not surprising that in early development, infants learn to discriminate changes in affect." 

Infants can match emotion in adults at seven months and familiar adults at six months. In order to test infant's perception of their peer's emotions, Flom and his team of researchers tested a baby's ability to match emotional infant vocalizations with a paired infant facial expression. 

"We found that 5 month old infants can match their peer's positive and negative vocalizations with the appropriate facial expression," says Flom. "This is the first study to show a matching ability with an infant this young. They are exposed to affect in a peer's voice and face which is likely more familiar to them because it's how they themselves convey or communicate positive and negative emotions." 

In the study, infants were seated in front of two monitors. One of the monitors displayed video of a happy, smiling baby while the other monitor displayed video of a second sad, frowning baby. When audio was played of a third happy baby, the infant participating in the study looked longer to the video of the baby with positive facial expressions. The infant also was able to match negative vocalizations with video of the sad frowning baby. The audio recordings were from a third baby and not in sync with the lip movements of the babies in either video. 

"These findings add to our understanding of early infant development by reiterating the fact that babies are highly sensitive to and comprehend some level of emotion," says Flom. "Babies learn more in their first 2 1/2 years of life than they do the rest of their lifespan, making it critical to examine how and what young infants learn and how this helps them learn other things." 

The study has been published in the academic journal Infancy.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

29.06.2013

Coffee can help you loose weight: study

Coffee could help one live longer and lose weight, claimed a new study. Scientists at Griffith University are currently studying, if drinking coffee helps people lose weight by suppressing their appetite, reported AAP news agency.

The results of early trials will come as good news to coffee addicts who are also looking to shed weight. Participants were given either normal coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or a caffeine tablet with breakfast and their appetites were monitored until lunch.

"So far, we're seeing a decrease in hunger and an increase in fullness in the caffeinated coffee condition, a trend we're not observing with decaffeinated coffee or caffeine alone," Griffith University doctoral student Matt Schubert said in a statement.

"This may be important for weight control, as any decrease in appetite could help reduce food intake. Coffee has already been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes, stroke, some cancers, mental illness and overall mortality," he said.

Source: www.indianexpress.com

29.06.2013

Don’t do it because somebody else tell you to do, do it because you believe in it

28 June, 2013

Pioglitazone ban: Health Ministry’s decision draws ire from all corners

The Union Health Ministry’s decision to ban anti-diabetes drug pioglitazone has come in for sharp criticism from the pharma industry in the country. Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) secretary general DG Shah said, ‘There is complete secrecy and confusion about what led to banning the drug by the government which will adversely impact around 30 lakh patients who are using the drug at present.’ 

Some have even believe that this move is calculated which will force patients to consume more expensive drugs like gliptins. The industry is justifiably peeved because the drug is available in many countries including extremely regulated ones like the US (with a warning), Japan, UK, Switzerland, Canada and Australia. The only major country where pioglitazone is banned is France.

It was banned along with analgin (a painkiller) and deanxit (an anti-depressant) and while these drugs have a controversial history, the ban of pioglitazone has taken the entire industry by surprise. In its response to a parliamentary committee the health ministry said, ‘It has since been decided that whenever a drug is banned due to adverse drug reactions in countries with well-developed and efficient regulatory system viz. USA, UK, EU, Australia, Japan and Canada, the manufacture, import and marketing of such drugs would be immediately put under suspension till the safety of the drug is examined and established in the country’.

But as the industry insiders correctly point out, the drug pioglitazone isn’t banned in any of the aforementioned countries. We spoke to our expert Dr Rajiv Kovil, renowned diabetologist and the founder of the Diabetes Care Center, to find out more about the ban, and how it can affect patients.

Source: http://health.india.com

28.06.2013

Kashmir, northeast worst-affected by cancer of the oesophagus

Cancer of the oesophagus – or what is commonly called food pipe – has been detected as the third most common cancer in India, with people from the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir found to be the highest affected by the disease, said experts Tuesday.

Cancer of the oesophagus – the tube in the throat that carries food and liquid to the stomach – is known to be a very morbid condition which affects the upper digestive tract of the human body. 

‘As per the Indian Council of Medical Research, every 8-10 people per 1 lakh population suffer from the cancer of oesophagus. The figures are even higher for northeast India,’ Bhushan Bhole of the Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute (PSRI) told IANS.

Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states of India also fall under the Asian belt of oesophagus cancer together with China, primarily due to the cold weather conditions and increased consumption of smoked meat.

‘There is a place in Mizoram, where 25-26 people per one lakh population suffer from the cancer of oesophagus,’ added Bhole, and added that for easier treatment and faster recovery, the doctors at PSRI have been conducting the surgery with minimal incisions (laparoscopic surgery) and creating awareness about the growing disease.

‘The new surgery with minimal incisions is better than the open surgery, as it entails less blood loss, lesser hospital stay for the patients who are especially elderly in the age of 55-60 years,’ said Sanjay Chaurey, a laparoscopy consultant at PSRI. 

The open surgery undertaken earlier would involve the opening of the abdomen, the chest and the neck for the treatment of oesophagus.

‘Recurrence of acidity for a few weeks and difficulty in swallowing are the main symptoms to the cancer of oesophagus,’ added Chaurey. 

Source: http://health.india.com

28.06.2013

Little by little. A little becomes a lot

27 June, 2013

Artificial sweetener may cure Parkinson's disease

An artificial sweetener produced by fungi, bacteria, and algae could help treat those suffering from Parkinson's disease, according to a new study.

Mannitol that is present in sugar-free gum and candy has been approved by the FDA as a diuretic to flush out excess fluids and used during surgery as a substance that opens the blood/brain barrier to ease the passage of other drugs.

Profs. Ehud Gazit and Daniel Segal of Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, along with their colleague Dr. Ronit Shaltiel-Karyo and PhD candidate Moran Frenkel-Pinter, found that mannitol also prevents clumps of the protein a-synuclein from forming in the brain — a process that is characteristic of Parkinson's disease.

These results of the study have suggested that this artificial sweetener could be a novel therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

After identifying the structural characteristics that facilitate the development of clumps of a-synuclein, researchers searched for a compound that could inhibit the proteins' ability to bind together. In the lab, they found that mannitol was among the most effective agents in preventing aggregation of the protein in test tubes. The benefit of this substance is that it is already approved for use in a variety of clinical interventions, Segal said.

Next, to test the capabilities of mannitol in the living brain, the researchers turned to transgenic fruit flies engineered to carry the human gene for a-synuclein.

To study fly movement, they used a test called the "climbing assay," in which the ability of flies to climb the walls of a test tube indicates their locomotive capability. In the initial experimental period, 72 percent of normal flies were able to climb up the test tube, compared to only 38 percent of the genetically-altered flies.

The researchers then added mannitol to the food of the genetically-altered flies for a period of 27 days and repeated the experiment. This time, 70 percent of the mutated flies could climb up the test tube. In addition, the researchers observed a 70 percent reduction in aggregates of a-synuclein in mutated flies that had been fed mannitol, compared to those that had not.

These results have been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.06.2013

First paediatric hand transplant program begins

A US hospital has announced that it is looking for kids for the world's first paediatric hand transplant program. 

Boston Children's Hospital said in a statement on its website that the research-based program will offer bi-lateral hand transplants for children living without two functioning hands, reported Xinhua. 

Potential subjects for the hand transplant program will be children who are over 10 and "in good overall health" but have been missing bothhands for one or more years, the hospital said. 

Children who are missing one hand but are already on immunosuppression medication for a functioning solid organ transplant, or missing one hand and the other hand is poorly functioning, will also be considered, it said. 

Because the hand transplant program is currently part of a research study, the hospital said it will cover the costs of all pre-transplant screenings and tests, the procedure itself, and the first three months of post-operative care. 

"It has been shown in adults that hand transplants can be safe and effective; the time is right to bring this to a younger population,"William Harmon, medical director of the program, said in the statement. 

"We know from experience that kids can regenerate nerves better than adults and believe that their immature immune systems can learn to adapt to a transplant successfully." 

Hand transplants are a new medical procedure, most of which are being done as part of research protocols. To date, only one hand transplant has occurred in a child: a twin-to-twin transplant inMalaysia in which one twin passed away and one of the twin's arms was used to replace a missing limb in the surviving twin. There have been no transplants from a donor to a genetically different paediatric patient. 

The first hand transplant in the US was performed in 1999, and since then over 50 have been done on adults worldwide.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.06.2013

Don't be upset with the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do

26 June, 2013

Vitamin D helps lower BP and uplifts mood in women with diabetes

Washington: Vitamin D supplements significantly lowers blood pressure and improves moods of women who have type 2 diabetes and show signs of depression, a new study has found.

Vitamin D even helped the women lose a few pounds.

"Vitamin D supplementation potentially is an easy and cost-effective therapy, with minimal side effects," Sue M. Penckofer, PhD, RN, lead author of the study and a professor in the Niehoff School of Nursing, said.

"Larger, randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the impact of vitamin D supplementation on depression and major cardiovascular risk factors among women with Type 2 diabetes," she said.

The pilot study included 46 women who were an average age of 55 years, had diabetes an average of 8 years and insufficient blood levels of vitamin D (18 ng/ml). They took a weekly dose (50,000 International Units) of vitamin D. (By comparison, the recommended dietary allowance for women 51 to 70 years is 600 IU per day.)

After six months, their vitamin D blood levels reached sufficient levels (average 38 ng/ml) and their moods improved significantly.

Blood pressure also improved, with the upper number decreasing from 140.4 mm Hg to 132.5 mm Hg. And their weight dropped from an average of 226.1 pounds to 223.6 pounds. 

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/news/health

26.06.2013

Mumbai doctors perform India`s first domino kidney transplant

Mumbai: Simultaneous surgeries in three hospitals benefited five recipients after the state authorisation panel gave permission for the domino kidney transplant, first in India.

After facing many hurdles for getting permission from the government, country’s first-ever domino kidney transplant was successfully performed in the city on Tuesday.

The domino kidney transplant, which involves five donors and five recipients, was conducted in three hospitals — two transplant procedures each in Bombay Hospital and Hiranandani hospital and one in Hinduja hospital. All the transplants were done on the same day.

A domino transplant is a series of surgeries in which each of the five donors gives an organ to a recipient not related to him/her, while the donor’s relative needing an organ gets it from a recipient’s relative. Legal issues are involved in organ donation cases when the donor and recipient are not related. Dr Shrirang Bicchu, nephrologist, Bombay hospital, said, “The success of this procedure will now set a precedent and encourage people to opt for it as it reduces a patient’s wait for the organ. We are very thankful to the government of Maharashtra; it helped speed up the procedure.”

As the transplant was being conducted in city hospitals and because four of the five donor-recipient pairs were from Maharashtra, permission of the state authorisation committee was necessary, which was given last week. On May 19, dna had first reported about the denial of the Rajasthan government in giving its nod to the procedure. Of the five donor-recipient pairs involved, one is from Rajasthan.

Permission had been sought from the Rajasthan state authorisation committee, a body mandated to clear such transplants to prevent illegal trade of organs. The committee, however, denied permission citing the Supreme Court guidelines that said nothing about a ‘domino’ procedure.

“It is a routine procedure in the United States; its success has been reported in several journals. The interesting thing about domino kidney transplant is that despite blood group not matching, with the help of this five-way swap, those in need are able to get the organ; otherwise, they have to wait for a long time. All credit goes to the Apex Swap Transplant Registry that addresses the issue of mismatch in blood groups or tissues in donor-recipient pairs,” said Dr Rajesh Kumar, nephrologist, Hiranandani hospital, one of the doctors on the domino transplant team.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/news/health

26.06.2013

Stop waiting for things to happen, go out and make them happen

25 June, 2013

Blood test could predict colon cancer

Washington, June 24 (ANI): A new blood test is showing very promising results for detecting colon cancer before it develops. The results of the test that was developed in the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Lab at Baylor Research Institute, are exciting and promising because this simple blood-based test examines the levels of a single microRNA – a small RNA molecule that can be readily identified in a wide variety of bodily fluids, including blood.

In this seminal study, the investigators studied several hundred patients with colorectal polyps and cancers and reported that measuring levels of miR-21 in the blood can accurately identify up to 92 percent of patients with colorectal cancer.

Even more importantly, not only is this test good for non-invasively identifying patients who already have colorectal cancer, but it can accurately identify up to 82 percent of patients with advanced colonic polyps, which present the highest risk for developing into colorectal cancers several years later in life.

‘The development of this biomarker is highly encouraging because high mortality rates associated with colorectal cancer is a consequence of late detection of this disease, underscoring the need for improved early detection, prevention, risk assessment and intervention,’ said Ajay Goel, PhD, director of Epigenetics and Cancer Prevention at Baylor Research Institute. Early detection of advanced colorectal polyps and cancers is considered the most relevant target for screening strategies and the best approach to improving survival of these patients.

‘This blood-based test could be transformative in how we screen patients for colorectal cancer; it would save lives and could result in major savings of health care dollars,’ said Michael Ramsay, MD, president of Baylor Research Institute.

While more testing needs to be done, the findings were enough to warrant an editorial in the highly regarded Journal by Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, associate director for clinical research at the University of Southern California’s Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. ‘MiR-21 may not be ?just another brick in the wall„ but rather may be the keystone leading to a molecularly justified, miRNA-based biomarker era in colorectal cancer,’ Dr. Lenz said.

The study has been published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Source: http://health.india.com

25.06.2013

WHO says dip in stocks of TB drugs in India

New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said there was a dip in the buffers stock of anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs in India, but this would in no way affect treatment of patients. ‘There is a dip in the buffer stock of anti-TB drugs. We understand that the government of India has initiated steps to ensure replenishment,’ Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India, said in a statement here. However, the statement added that ‘no drugs are out of stock for adult anti-TB patients for both drug sensitive and drug resistant TB’.

WHO provides technical and policy-related support to the government’s anti-TB programme. She said: ‘The stock of paediatric anti-TB drugs, which is critically low is being augmented through emergency procurement.’ For patients who have already started the treatment, India’s programme provides one full course of TB drugs for each patient, in patient-wise boxes. ‘This ensures that there is no interruption of treatment due to drug shortage,’ she said.

India has one of the largest TB control programme in the world with nearly 1.5 million TB patients placed under treatment every year. The treatment protocol ensures that the whole course of anti-TB drugs is given free to the patients with intense monitoring and other patient support system. Since inception, the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) has evaluated over 55 million people for TB and initiated treatment for over 15.8 million TB patients

Source: http://health.india.com

25.06.2013

Life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change

Jim Rohan

24 June, 2013

Eating chicken may stave off colon cancer in teens

Teens who eat more chicken and fish may lower their risk of developing colon cancer, a new study has claimed.

In a study of nearly 20,000 women, those who ate more chicken during their teen years had lower risks of developing colorectal adenomas, which are benign tumours that may progress into colon cancer.

The researchers did not find a direct relationship between red meat intake and adenomas, but the results showed that replacing one serving per day of red meat with one serving of poultry or fish may reduce the risks of rectal and advanced adenomas by about 40 per cent, LiveScience reported.

"Among different cancers, colorectal cancer is the most influenced by diet. Compared to something like smoking, diet is not a large cancer risk factor, but it does have animpact," said study researcher Dr Katharina Nimptsch. Previous research has found that a diet high in red and processed meat may increase risks of colon cancer.

However, earlier studies have investigated diet during adulthood, rather than focusing on what people eat earlier in life, and their future cancer risk.

"Colorectal carcinogenesis is a long process that can take several decades, and the initial steps of carcinogenesis may occur at young ages," researchers wrote in the new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

In the study, women ages 34 to 51 answered questions about their diet during high school. Over the following 10 years, 1,494 of the women were diagnosed with colorectal adenomas. Of these adenomas, 305 were in an advanced stage.

"Our findings do not suggest an association between red meat intake during adolescence and colorectal adenomas later in life, but higher poultry intake during this time was associated with a lower risk of colorectal adenomas," researchers said.

Eating more poultry and fish in adulthood didn't seem to change the risk, according to the study.

"Before recommendations are made based on these findings, it is necessary that results are confirmed," Nimptsch said.

Source: www.indianexpress.com

24.06.2013

'Indians think blood donation could alter their personality'

Indian recipients prefer to get an organ transplant or blood transfusion from a donor whose personality or behaviour matches theirs, a new study has found.

Some people in India and the US, who undergo transplants, believe that their personality or behaviour may change to become more like that of the blood or organ donor, researchers from the University of Michigan, said.

They feel so "creeped out" that they would decline an organ or blood that came from a murderer or thief, the study conducted on participants from India and US found.

People think that behaviours and personalities are partly due to something hidden deep inside their blood or bodily organs, Meredith Meyer, the study's lead author, said.

Surprisingly, researchers found that results from blood transfusions were just as strong as from heart transplants.

"Since blood transfusions are so common and relatively straightforward, we had expected people might think that they have very little effect," Meyer said.

Participants viewed a list of possible human donors and judged whether they wanted someone who shared similar traits.

Possible donors also included two animals: a pig or a chimpanzee. For human donors described as having the same gender, the characteristics could be positive (eg high IQ, talented artist, kind person or philanthropist) or negative (eg low IQ, thief, gambler or murderer).

Respondents ranked how much they liked the idea of each being a donor, as well as assessed their beliefs that the transplant would cause the recipient's personality or behaviour to become similar to the donor's.

The findings indicate it was more important for people to have a donor similar to themselves than the positive or negative qualities that individual possesses.

Source: www.indianexpress.com

24.06.2013

Change your thoughts and you will change your world

22 June, 2013

Health Minister Azad wants more people to donate blood

New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) India needs lakhs of people to donate blood each day because of its huge population, union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Friday, at a function marking International Blood Donor Week.

‘India cannot just celebrate one week of blood donation with such a huge population. We should have lakhs and crores of blood donations per day,’ Azad said. 

‘There is no dearth of donors, but an atmosphere needs to be created. Then lots of lives can be saved. This is now in our hands,’ the minister said.

At another function Friday, Azad said: ‘Despite socio-economic development and advances in medical science, tuberculosis remains a major public health concern globally. Millions of people suffer and die from this disease every year,’ he said.

Since 2007, the case detection rate of TB has gone up by more than 70 percent, in line with the global targets for TB control, while maintaining the treatment success rate of more than 85 percent, according to health ministry figures.

Source: http://health.india.com

22.06.2013

WHO says dip in stocks of TB drugs in India

New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said there was a dip in the buffers stock of anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs in India, but this would in no way affect treatment of patients. ‘There is a dip in the buffer stock of anti-TB drugs. We understand that the government of India has initiated steps to ensure replenishment,’ Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India, said in a statement here. However, the statement added that ‘no drugs are out of stock for adult anti-TB patients for both drug sensitive and drug resistant TB’.

WHO provides technical and policy-related support to the government’s anti-TB programme. She said: ‘The stock of paediatric anti-TB drugs, which is critically low is being augmented through emergency procurement.’ For patients who have already started the treatment, India’s programme provides one full course of TB drugs for each patient, in patient-wise boxes. ‘This ensures that there is no interruption of treatment due to drug shortage,’ she said.

India has one of the largest TB control programme in the world with nearly 1.5 million TB patients placed under treatment every year. The treatment protocol ensures that the whole course of anti-TB drugs is given free to the patients with intense monitoring and other patient support system. Since inception, the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) has evaluated over 55 million people for TB and initiated treatment for over 15.8 million TB patients

Source: http://health.india.com

22.06.2013

If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win

 Carl Lewis

21 June, 2013

Nitrous oxide does not up heart attack risk during surgery

Washington: Nitrous oxide - best known as laughing gas - has been one of the world`s oldest and most widely used anaesthetics.

However, despite its popularity, experts have questioned its impact on the risk of a heart attack during surgery or soon afterward. But those fears are unfounded, a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests.

"It`s been known for quite a while that laughing gas inactivates vitamin B12 and, by doing so, increases blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine," lead author Peter Nagele, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology and genetics, said.

"That was thought to raise the risk of a heart attack during and after surgery, but we found no evidence of that in this study," he said. Nitrous oxide normally is used as an adjunct during general anesthesia because by itself the drug isn`t strong enough to keep patients unconscious during surgical procedures.

The drug`s influence on B vitamins and homocysteine is unrelated to its anesthetic effects.

Nagele and his colleagues followed 500 surgery patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis who had been diagnosed with coronary artery disease, heart failure or other health problems that could contribute to a heart attack.

All subjects in the study had noncardiac surgery and received nitrous oxide anesthesia.

The patients were divided into two groups. Half received intravenous vitamin B12 and folic acid to help prevent homocysteine levels from rising during surgery. The others did not get the intravenous B vitamins.

"There were no differences between the groups with regard to heart attack risk," Nagele said.

"The B vitamins kept homocysteine levels from rising, but that didn`t influence heart attack risk," he added.

The findings are set to be published in the journal Anesthesiology. 

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/news/health

21.06.2013

Calcium and vitamin D intake timing may affect how bone adapts to exercise

Washington: Taking calcium and vitamin D before exercise may influence how bones adapt to exercise, according to a new study.

The study lead author Vanessa D. Sherk, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the timing of calcium supplementation, and not just the amount of supplementation, may be an important factor in how the skeleton adapts to exercise training.

In the study, which included 52 men aged 18 to 45 years, investigators found that an exercise-induced decrease in blood calcium occurred whether calcium supplements were taken before or after exercising.

Pre-exercise supplementation, however, resulted in less of a decrease.

Although not statistically significant, parathyroid hormone levels increased slightly less among cyclists who took calcium before exercising.

"Taking calcium before exercise may help keep blood levels more stable during exercise, compared to taking the supplement afterwards, but we do not yet know the long-term effects of this on bone density," Sherk said.

The timing of calcium supplementation did not cause a difference in blood levels of a compound that is a biological indicator of bone loss.

Both the before- and after-exercise groups exhibited 50-percent increases in the level of this compound, called CTX, for collagen type-1 C-telopeptide.

The study will be presented at The Endocrine Society`s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. 

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/news/health

21.06.2013

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy

Thich Nhat Hanh