10, May 2014

Bad cholesterol can help cancer spread, scientists warn

Sydney: Cholesterol is not just bad for your heart. According to an alarming research, “bad” cholesterol helps cancer spread around the body.

This is because cholesterol regulates the machinery that controls the movement of cells in the body.

Most of the cells in our bodies stick to neighbouring cells through the help of molecules on their surface known as integrins that helps cells stick together.

“Bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein or LDL) controls the trafficking of tiny vessels which also contain these integrins, and this has huge effects on the ability of cancer cells to move and spread throughout the body,” Thomas Grewal, an associate professor from University of Sydney, was quoted as saying.

Unfortunately, integrins also help cancer cells that have broken away from a cancerous tumour to take root elsewhere in the body.

In contrast, high levels of “good" cholesterol keeps integrins inside cells and may, therefore, protect against cancer cell spread.

Malignant cancer cells are known to take up increased amounts of bad cholesterol, Grewal noted in a paper published in the journal Cell Reports.

According to Grewal, people with common cancers such as breast, prostate, lung and liver cancers often have low LDL levels because the cholesterol has been absorbed by the cancer cells which need it to grow and spread.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/health

10.05.2014

Satisfied with steps taken by Pakistan: WHO officials

  

Islamabad: WHO has been quite satisfied with the initial steps taken by the Pakistan government to stop wild poliovirus from spreading outside its borders, its polio chief Elias Durry said.

Durry, who is currently in Britain, said Thursday that he knew Pakistan was doing a lot to prevent the export of polio, Dawn online reported Friday.

"It is very difficult to say that we have approved Pakistan's request, but I believe that 15 days is not a long time. But Pakistan should continue to take steps to ensure that the international community is not affected by the poliovirus," he was quoted as saying.

"I’ve learned that polio vaccination is now underway in the polyclinic in the federal capital, which is a positive step," WHO's Pakistan Country Director Nima Saeed Abid said.

"WHO is committed to facilitating the government of Pakistan and will continue supporting all the steps taken to implement WHO recommendations to protect the world from polio," he added.

A WHO report said the polio virus was being exported from three countries -- Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria.

The organisation declared it mandatory for people from these countries to receive the polio vaccine before they are allowed to go abroad.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/health

10.05.2014

Failure is not our only punishment for laziness, there is also the success of others

Jules Renard