16 February, 2015

Diabetes damages your brain?

Type 2 diabetes reduces quality of life and researchers have now found that it may also decrease certain cognitive abilities, known as executive functions. Type 2 diabetes is associated with bad performance on cognitive tests, measuring abilities involved in the control of emotions, behaviour and thought, the findings showed.

‘This facet of brain function is particularly important because we rely on it when we are attempting to behave in a way that is contrary to our natural inclinations or what the environment impels us to do,’ said lead author Corrie Vincent from the University of Waterloo in Canada. The researchers reviewed 60 studies, comparing 9,815 individuals with type 2 diabetes to 69,254 controls without it and examined their performance on measures of executive function.

‘Essentially people with type 2 diabetes may be hit with the double whammy of having more need for executive control but – possibly because of the disease’s effect on the brain – less intact resources for exerting it,’ senior author Peter Hall, professor at the University of Waterloo, added. Approximately 600 million people live with type 2 diabetes worldwide, with nearly 800 million cases expected by 2030, making it one of the greatest global health concerns of modern times.

‘Fortunately, there are a few things that can help optimise the brain structures that support executive function,’ Hall said. ‘Aerobic exercise and cognitively challenging activities – such as learning new things, solving difficult puzzles and other problem solving activities – all help to keep your brain sharp,’ said Hall. The study appeared in the journalPsychosomatic Medicine.  

Source: www.thehealthindia.com

16.02.2015

Reduced blood flow to brain increases repeat stroke risk

 Patients, who have low blood flow to the back of the brain, are at increased risk of recurrent stroke, a six-year-long trial has found. ‘We found that patients with low blood flow had a 22 percent risk of recurrent stroke in the first 12 months, versus a four percent risk for patients whose blood flow was not low,’ said principal investigator Sepideh Amin-Hanjani, professor of neurological surgery at the University of Illinois’ college of medicine, the US.

At 24 months, the risk for patients with low blood flow was up to 30 percent versus 13 percent for other patients. Patients with blockage of the blood vessels that supply blood to the back of the brain – a condition known as vertebrobasilar disease or VBD – are at risk of having a stroke or temporary symptoms of a stroke known as transient ischemic attack.  

The risk of a repeat stroke associated with VBD may be tied to several factors, including the degree to which the blockage reduces the blood flow to the brain. Patients with VBD can have blockage ranging from partial to complete, which affects blood flow accordingly. The trial sought to identify patients with VBD and low blood flow to see if they had a higher risk of recurrent stroke than those with normal blood flow to the back of the brain.

For the study, adult stroke patients were assessed for low posterior blood flow and followed for one to two years, an average of 22 months. The researchers also developed a specialised software to analyse blood flow using standard magnetic resonance imaging. ‘The ultimate goal is to find what treatments might be most effective for each patient,’ Hanjani noted. The researchers presented their findings at the International Stroke Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in the US.  

Source: www.thehealthindia.com

16.02.2015

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction

John F Kennedy