30 December, 2019

Tuberculosis vaccine may lower Alzheimer’s risk in cancer patients

Currently, Alzheimer’s affects one-in-ten adults over the age of 65 — a number that is expected to triple by 2030. The need to find a cure is great. In the backdrop of the following facts, researchers have developed a TB vaccine that lowers rates of Alzheimer’s disease in cancer patients.

There may soon be a glimmer of hope for patients of Alzheimer’s disease. A research team headed by Herve Bercovier, Charles Greenblatt and Benjamin Klein at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)’s Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics has discovered that the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, originally developed for tuberculosis and commonly used to treat bladder cancer, may also be an effective treatment to prevent Alzheimer’s. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

“There’s data reaching back to the 1960s that shows that countries treating bladder cancer patients with the BCG vaccine had a lower prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease but it hadn’t been properly analyzed,” shared lead author Bercovier.

Until now Bercovier and his team followed 1,371 bladder cancer patients receiving treatment at HU’s Hadassah Medical Center. The average patient age was 68. During follow-up visits, 65 cancer patients had developed Alzheimer’s.

Those who had not received BCG as part of their treatment had a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s than did BCG-treated patients: 8.9 per cent (44 patients) as opposed to 2.4 per cent(21). Further, when compared with the general (healthy) population, people who had never been treated with BCG had a 4-fold higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s than did those who were treated with BCG.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

30.12.2019

In order to succeed, we must first believe we can

23 December, 2019

Excessive antibiotic prescriptions can harm your child’s health

A new study suggests that excessive antibiotic prescriptions for children could resist their ability to fight pathogens, a microorganism that can cause disease. The excessive intake of antibiotics can also result in a concrete health impact on children.

While antibiotics are known for their properties to fight bacteria and are the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting the bacterial infection, a new study suggests that excessive antibiotic prescriptions for children can harm their health.

Children in low and middle countries (LMICs) are being prescribed an average of 25 antibiotics during their first five years of life, which is an excess and could resist their ability to fight pathogens( a microorganism that can cause disease).

Gunther Fink, the lead author of the study and head of the Household Economics and Health Systems Research Unit at Swiss TPH, said, “We knew children in LMICs are sick more often, and we knew antibiotic prescription rates are high in many countries. What we did not know was how these elements translate into actual antibiotic exposure–and the results are rather alarming.”

Antimicrobial resistance is considered as one of the global health and development threat today, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Excessive use of antibiotics worldwide is one such factor contributing to the threat.

Mid-low countries often have children who fall sick frequently and they visit the hospital only to be overprescribed by antibiotics.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

23.12.2019

Accept the challenge so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory

18 December, 2019

Sleeping more may increase your stroke risk: Study

A study published in the medical journal Neurology has indicated that people who sleep more than necessary may be at greater risk of stroke.

According to the study, people who nap regularly during midday for more than 90 minutes are 25 per cent more susceptible to have a stroke later in their life as compared to people who took naps of up to 30 minutes. However, people who did not nap at all were not at all likely to have a stroke as compared to the ones who took naps of up to 30 minutes.

Author of the study, ZhXiaominang from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, said, “Studies have shown that long nappers and sleepers have unfavourable changes in their cholesterol levels and increased waist circumferences, both of which are risk factors for stroke.” “Long napping and sleeping may suggest an overall inactive lifestyle, which is also related to increased risk of stroke,” she added.

The study involved 31,750 people from China, having an average age of 62. The people who were involved in the study did not have any history of stroke when the study was started. The researchers followed the people for six years, during which a total of 1,557 cases of strokes were reported.

The conclusion drawn out of the study was that people who slept for nine hours or more during the night were 23 per cent more susceptible of getting a stroke as compared to people who slept for seven or fewer hours in the night. The study found out that people who were both long sleepers and long nappers had 85 per cent likelihood of having a stroke than people who slept in moderation.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

18.12.2019

Never let your fear decide your future

9 December, 2019

Research finds dramatic health benefits following air pollution reduction

A new study — ‘Health Benefits of Air Pollution Reduction’, published in the American Thoracic Society’s journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society, by the Environmental Committee of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), has reviewed interventions that have reduced air pollution at its source.

The lead author of the study Dr Dean Schraufnagel, MD, ATSF, said: “We knew there were benefits from pollution control, but the magnitude and relatively short time duration to accomplish them was impressive. Our findings indicate almost immediate and substantial effects on health outcomes followed by reduced exposure to air pollution. It’s critical that governments adopt and enforce WHO guidelines for air pollution immediately.”

In addition to the city-wide policies, reducing air pollution within the home also led to health benefits. In Nigeria, families who had clean cookstoves that reduced indoor air pollution during a nine-month pregnancy term saw higher birthweights, greater gestational age at delivery, and less perinatal mortality.

Emissions of the major pollutants — particulate matter (PM), sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and lead — were reduced by 73 per cent between 1990 and 2015 while the US gross domestic product grew by more than 250 per cent.

Given these findings, Dr Schraufnagel has hope. “Air pollution is largely an avoidable health risk that affects everyone. Urban growth, expanding industrialization, global warming, and new knowledge of the harm of air pollution raises the degree of urgency for pollution control and stress the consequences of inaction.”

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

09.12.2019

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

2 December, 2019

Researchers discover new method to reduce chemotherapy doses for patients

Chemotherapy, which is a saviour for many cancer patients is a painful treatment to undergo following which many patients quit it midways. But researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a method that delivers chemotherapy drugs directly to malignant cells and bypasses healthy ones. With this discovery, doctors aim to reduce chemo doses for patients, thereby reducing the unpleasant side-effects associated with the treatment.

“Most anti-cancer treatments are not sufficiently specific, meaning they attack healthy cells together with the malignant ones they’re trying to get rid of,” explained Professor Alexander Binshtok, head of Plain Plasticity Research Group at the University.

“This leads to the many serious side-effects associated with chemotherapy. Eliminating cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones alone is an important step towards reducing patients’ suffering,” the professor added. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology.

The study focused on the selective expression of the TRPV2 protein by cancer cells. When activated, TRPV2 protein opens a canal inside cell membranes. Researchers studied liver cancer cells and were able to successfully insert a low dose of doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic agent, through the canal and directly into cancer cells. Not only did the new method target cancer cells without harming healthy ones. In the future, the precision of this delivery method may allow doctors to prescribe lower chemo doses and to relieve patients from some of the harsher effects of chemo.

“It’s too early to make concrete predictions but we are hopeful this discovery will lead the way towards a new, more targeted delivery method for chemotherapy treatment, one that will drastically reduce patients’ pain,” Binshtok concluded.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

02.12.2019

Winners are not people never fail, but people never quit