Thursday, November 28, 2013

Weight loss surgery: do the benefits really outweigh the risks?

Posted by Neill Abayon

Obesity prevalence is the highest it has ever been. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that more that one-third of American adults are affected. And with the increase in obesity comes an increase in the number of weight loss surgery procedures. But how safe are the procedures, and do the benefits outweigh the risks?


There is no doubt that obesity is a major cause of a number of serious and potentially life-threatening diseases.

The condition can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and it has also been linked to some cancers, including breast cancer and colon cancer. A recent study reported by Medical News Today even suggested a link between obesity and pancreatic cancer.

Furthermore, the condition can severely damage a person's quality of life, leaving them immobile and often triggering depression.

Based on these factors, it is not difficult to understand why excessively overweight individuals look to various weight loss interventions in order to combat their obesity.

And weight loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, is now one of the most common interventions to which obese individuals turn.

According to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), the number of surgical weight loss procedures carried out in the US has increased from 13,000 in 1998 to more than 200,000 in 2008.


More here.

 

Excessive alcohol consumption triggered by gene mutation

Posted by Neill Abayon


In a study involving mice, researchers have found a gene that regulates alcohol consumption. When this gene is faulty, the mice are prompted to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, suggesting a potential genetic component at play in human alcohol consumption.
The research was undertaken by researchers from five universities in the UK and was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome Trust and the European Foundation for Alcohol Research (ERAB).
Results of the findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Researchers observed that normal mice showed no interest in alcohol presented to them, choosing a bottle of water over a bottle of diluted alcohol.
But when mice with a mutated Gabrb1 gene were offered alcohol, they consistently opted for alcohol over water, consuming nearly 85% of their daily fluid intake as alcohol.
"It's amazing to think that a small change in the code for just one gene can have such profound effects on complex behaviors like alcohol consumption," says Dr. Quentin Anstee, consultant hepatologist at Newcastle University and joint lead author.
More here.


 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

How torture affects pain perception


Everyone feels pain differently, but the expectation of something hurting may make the experience even more painful.
 Posted by Neill Abayon

Torture survivors are likely to experience chronic pain, even decades later. And now, researchers from Tel Aviv University say the effects of torture may be permanent, particularly in how survivors perceive pain.
 
If you have experienced extreme pain, the memory of it can linger. Studies have shown that the memory of pain may even overshadow the primary experience, and researchers have shown when pain is anticipated, patients report a worsening of pain.

Conversely, even the expectation of pain relief can produce a placebo effect, diminishing the experience of pain.

Researchers from Israel set out to study the long-term effects of torture on the human pain system, publishing their results in the European Journal of Pain. They claim that torture survivors "regulate pain in a dysfunctional way." 

More here.


 

Music training in childhood boosts the brain in adulthood


The effects of playing a musical instrument as a child may endure into adulthood, with musically trained adults processing sound more quickly than non-trained ones.
 Posted by Neill Abayon

If you have to endure hours of squeaky tunes while your child practices their music, take heart. A new study has shown that even a little musical training in early childhood has a lasting, positive effect on how the brain processes sound.

Researchers from Northwestern University state that playing a musical instrument changes the anatomy and function of the brain. But they questioned whether these changes continue after the music training stops.

For the study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers tested 44 adults, some of whom had previously had musical training and others with no training at all.

The musical groups began their training at around age 9, a common age for schools to start teaching music. The researchers tested the participants' brains to see how they responded to fast-changing sounds.

More here.


 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Cabbage compound protects healthy tissue from radiation damage




Posted by Neill Abayon


A team of US researchers has discovered that an anti-cancer compound present in cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, also protects rodents from lethal doses of radiation.  

 The compound, called 3,3'-diindolylmethane, and known more simply as "DIM," is already shown to be safe in humans, and so the researchers expect it could serve as a shield to protect healthy tissue in human cancer patients from damage by radiation therapy, or lessen its side effects.

The team, from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) in Washington, DC, reports its findings in the latest online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

One of the researchers, Eliot Rosen, a professor of oncology, biochemistry and cell and molecular biology, and radiation medicine at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a part of GUMC, says:

"DIM has been studied as a cancer prevention agent for years, but this is the first indication that DIM can also act as a radiation protector."

More here. 

 

Family caregiving linked to longer life expectancy



 Posted by Neill Abayon

A new US study led by Johns Hopkins researchers contradicts long-standing beliefs that the stress of caregiving leads to early death and instead shows that family caregivers live around 9 months longer than non- caregivers.

Lead author Dr. David L. Roth, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center on Aging and Health, and colleagues report their findings in the latest online issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Commenting on the findings, Dr. Roth says:

"Taking care of a chronically ill person in your family is often associated with stress, and caregiving has been previously linked to increased mortality rates. Our study provides important new information on the issue of whether informal family caregiving responsibilities are associated with higher or lower mortality rates as suggested by multiple conflicting previous studies."

More of the story here.


1 in 2,000 British people may carry 'mad cow' disease

Posted by Neill Abayon

Around 1 in every 2,000 people in the UK may carry variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) proteins, more commonly known as "mad cow" disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This is according to a study published in the BMJ.

 Variant CJD is a fatal degenerative brain disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the median duration of illness from vCJD is 14 months, while the median age at death from the disease is 28-years-old.

The illness was first described in the UK in 1996 and is thought to have resulted from transmission of infection from BSE in cattle to humans through meat products.

According to the team of UK researchers, there have been 177 clinical cases of vCJD to date in the UK.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been only three cases of vCJD reported in the US between 1996 and March 2011. However, previous studies have estimated that around 1 in 4,000 people may carry vCJD prions.

There is uncertainty surrounding the number of people who will eventually develop the disease, and it is unclear whether carriers risk transmitting the disease through blood transfusion or surgery.

Because of these cloudy areas, the researchers wanted to conduct a survey in order to more accurately determine how many people in the UK could be carriers of vCJD, and to identify the genotype of the carriers.

The research team analyzed more than 32,000 appendix samples over 41 hospitals from people who had their appendix removed between 2000 and 2012. 

More here.


 

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Check for blood in urine, urges kidney cancer campaign


West Bromwich Albion midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu and referee Dave Nixon are supporting the campaign
 Posted by Neill Abayon

If you see blood in your urine, even if it is just once, it could be a sign of cancer, a public health campaign warns.

Kidney cancer diagnoses have risen by a third in the past 10 years in England.

And the death toll has increased by 7%, with about 3,500 people dying from kidney cancer in England in 2011.

Public Health England (PHE) says the rise is linked to unhealthy lifestyles - smoking and obesity both raise the risk of kidney cancer - but early diagnosis could drive down death rates.

When kidney cancer is diagnosed at the earliest stage, the one-year survival rate is close to 97%, compared with about 32% at a late stage. 

Visible blood in the urine is a symptom in more than 80% of bladder cancer patients and in most of those with kidney cancer.

However, when asked to name cancer signs and symptoms, only a third of people mention unexplained bleeding, according to PHE.

Prof Kevin Fenton, PHE director of health and wellbeing, said: "Our message is clear - as soon as you spot blood in your pee, visit the GP.

"It's probably nothing serious, but it could also be a sign of something else that needs treatment, so don't ignore the symptoms or put off a trip to the doctor."

More here.

 

Air pollution 'still harming Europeans' health'










 

Activating aging in tumor cells may help lymphoma treatment

Posted by Neill Abayon

Perhaps the key to fighting some cancers is to reactivate a process that normally prevents cell proliferation. Now in the case of large B-cell lymphoma, scientists have found such a mechanism.

They reactivated a gene that controls the normal aging program in tumor cells so they can no longer divide. The researchers believe the discovery may lead to new drug targets for treating the cancer.

In a report about their work published online this week in Nature Communications, the researchers describe how they found a new tumor-suppressive role for a protein called Smurf2 that is known to enforce cell aging (senescence) in a subset of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Senior author Hong Zhang, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology at University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School, says:


"It's possible that restoration of Smurf2 expression may provide therapeutic benefits for patients and help encourage remission in difficult to treat cases."


He explains that normally this pathway regulates cell aging and stops B cells dividing and multiplying.
But humans with DLBCL show low expression of Smurf2, and such low activity of the protein affects a pathway that promotes unchecked cell division and tumor growth.
 
 More here.

 

Binge drinking during pregnancy linked to negative emotions

Posted by Neill Abayon

Researchers in Norway found that negative affectivity is linked to light alcohol use and binge drinking during pregnancy. 

Pregnancy is often described as one of the happiest times in a woman's life, but according to The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, between 14-23% of pregnant women will struggle with depression.

Negative affectivity is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression. Women suffering from this often tend to have an unfavorable view of themselves and the world in general.

They may be overwhelmed with feelings of worthlessness and guilt and may lose the desire or ability to look after themselves properly.

Previous studies have linked negative affectivity with greater vulnerability to stress, intense emotional reactions to daily life, and inclination to use intoxicants, such as alcohol, in response to stress. 


More here.


 

New ALS research may spark ways to slow progression

Posted by Neill Abayon

A team of scientists in the UK and Italy has completed new research into motor neuron disease that could spark the development of new treatments. By comparing mice with fast progressing ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the most common form to mice with the slow progressing form, they found some clues that could help develop new drugs to slow the disease.

ALS accounts for between 60-70% of all cases of motor neuron disease (MND), a serious and incurable disease where nerves in the spine and brain that control movement (motor function) gradually stop working and die. Patients in the later stages of disease may become totally paralyzed and completely lose their ability to walk, talk, eat and breathe.

The team, from the UK's University of Sheffield's Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) and the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy, report their findings in the journal Brain.

More here. 


 

Monday, October 14, 2013

Loving touch may be key to healthy sense of self


An affective touch is typically received from a loved one and plays an important role in developing our sense of self.

 Posted by Neill Abayon

A new study suggests that a gentle caress may be the key to feeling comfortable with one's self. Researchers say a loving touch may increase the brain's ability to construct a sense of body ownership and, in turn, play a part in creating and sustaining a healthy sense of self.

 These findings come from a new study published online in Frontiers in Psychology, led by Dr. Aikaterini Fotopoulou from University College London and Dr. Paul Mark Jenkinson from the University of Hertfordshire, both in the UK.

Affective touch, characterized by slow speed tactile stimulation of the skin (between 1 and 10 cm per second) has been previously correlated with pleasant emotion and improving symptoms of anxiety, as well as other emotional symptoms in certain groups of adults and infants.

More here.



 

'Weighed down by guilt' is more than metaphor, studies show


Feeling weighed down by guilt? Research shows subjective experiences of weight feel heavier when a person recalls situations that induce feelings of guilt.
Posted by Neill Abayon

Researchers have shown, through a series of experiments, that the heaviness of guilt is a very real thing. They found evidence that the emotions attached to guilt can be "grounded in subjective bodily sensation."

Martin Day from Princeton University, NJ, and Ramona Bobocel from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, published the results of their four studies in the journal PLOS ONE.

"People often say guilt is like a 'weight on one's conscience,' and we examined whether guilt is actually embodied as a sensation of weight," they say.

Their research touches on an emerging field in psychology called "embodied cognition," which they say looks at how thoughts and emotions can interact with the body to guide behavior.

They focused on guilt because they say it helps regulate our moral behavior by helping us "correct our mistakes and prevent future wrongdoing."

Additionally, the researchers say there is no prior research that has studied the embodiment of guilt until now.

More here.
 

 

Cancer costing European Union countries 'billions'



Posted by Neill Abayon

Cancer costs countries in the European Union 126bn euro (£107bn) a year, according to the first EU-wide analysis of the economic impact of the disease.

The charity Cancer Research UK said it was a "huge burden".

The figures, published in the Lancet Oncology, included the cost of drugs and health care as well as earnings lost through sickness or families providing care.

Lung cancer was the most costly form of the disease.

The team from the University of Oxford and King's College London analysed data from each of the 27 nations in the EU in 2009.

The showed the total cost was 126bn euro and of that 51bn (£43bn) euro was down to healthcare costs including doctors' time and drug costs.

Lost productivity, because of work missed through sickness or dying young, cost 52bn (£44bn) euro while the cost to families of providing care was put at 23bn (£19.5bn) euro.

More here
.


 

Vitamin D pills' effect on healthy bones queried






Posted by Neill Abayon

Healthy adults do not need to take vitamin D supplements, suggests a study in The Lancet which found they had no beneficial effect on bone density, a sign of osteoporosis.

But experts say many other factors could be at play and people should not stop taking supplements.
University of Auckland researchers analysed 23 studies involving more than 4,000 healthy people.
The UK government recommends children and over-65s take a daily supplement.

The New Zealand research team conducted a meta-analysis of all randomised trials examining the effects of vitamin D supplementation on bone mineral density in healthy adults up to July 2012.

The supplements were taken for an average of two years by the study participants.

More here.



 

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Vitamin B may reduce risk of stroke






Posted by Neill Abayon

Researchers have uncovered evidence that suggests vitamin B supplements could help to reduce the risk of stroke, according to a study published in the journal Neurology.

 Vitamin B supplements are said to be beneficial for many health issues, including stress, anxiety, depression, dementia, Alzheimer's disease and heart disease.

However, according to Xu Yuming of Zhengzhou University in Zhengzhou, China, previous studies have conflicting findings regarding the use of vitamin B supplements and stroke or heart attack.

"Some studies have even suggested that the supplements may increase the risk of these events," he adds.

In order to determine the role of vitamin B supplements in the risk of stroke, Prof. Yuming and colleagues analyzed 14 randomized clinical trials involving a total of 54,913 participants.

All studies compared use of vitamin B supplements with a placebo, or a very low dosage of the vitamin. All participants were then followed for a period of 6 months.

During this time, there were 2,471 reported strokes over all of the studies.

More here. 



How body temperature is affected by thyroid hormone

Posted by Neill Abayon

Researchers say they have discovered how thyroid hormone affects blood vessels to determine body temperature, potentially explaining why people who have disorders of the thyroid gland have higher sensitivity to environmental temperature.

 An overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) can cause a person to feel too hot, while an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) can cause a person to feel too cold.

The researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden said that previous studies have attributed this to how thyroid hormone affects the metabolism within cells.

The thyroid produces hormones that are able to influence how much the blood vessels dilate. In turn, this affects how much heat can escape the body.

For the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers studied mice with a mutated thyroid hormone receptor (receptor-mediated hypothyroidism). This particular mutation only affects one type of hormone receptor called TRalpha 1. 

More here.



Thursday, September 19, 2013

Suicide rates increased with global economic crisis






Posted by Neill Abayon

Researchers have said that the 2008 global economic crisis may be to blame for a rise in suicide rates across the Americas and Europe, particularly in males, according to a study published in the BMJ.


The data comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook database.
Researchers from the Universities of Hong Kong, Oxford and Bristol assessed the changes in suicide rates of 54 countries since the 2008 economic crisis.

In 2008, the International Labour Organization - an agency of the United Nations - estimated that by 2009, the number of unemployed people worldwide would reach around 212 million as a result of the crisis. This is an increase of 34 million, compared with 2007.

The WHO raised concerns about how this would impact global health, calling for action to monitor and protect health, particularly in the poor and vulnerable.

Therefore, unemployment rates were used as the main economic indicator in the study to determine whether there was a significant link to suicide rates.

More here

More here.


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Planned home births carry significant risks, study shows

Posted by Neill Abayon

The number of babies born at home has grown in the US during the past 10 years. But a new study shows that those babies are more likely to be stillborn and have a higher risk for seizures or neurological problems.

The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, comes from researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical Center, who analyzed data on more than 13 million US births.

It is the largest study of its kind, and the results were confirmed by examining birth files from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2007 to 2010 to analyze deliveries by physicians and midwives, both in and out of the hospital.

The researchers looked at Apgar scores of 0, neonatal seizures and neurological dysfunctions. The Apgar test is a screening assessment that quickly studies the health of a baby 1 minute and 5 minutes after being born.

If a baby has a 5-minute Apgar score of 0, it is considered stillborn, but the researchers say that 10% of these babies survive.

More here



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Monday, September 16, 2013

Diabetes drug enters clinical trial for Alzheimer's treatment

 Posted by Neill Abayon

A drug commonly used for treating diabetes may reverse symptoms of late-stage Alzheimer's disease and is now in the process of entering a major clinical trial.

Researchers from Lancaster University in the UK conducted a study revealing that the drug, liraglutide, may reverse memory loss in the late stages of Alzheimer's, as well as prevent the build-up of toxic plaques on the brain that contribute to symptoms of the disorder.

Liraglutide is from a class of drugs known as GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) analogue. The drug is prescribed to those suffering from diabetes and is used to stimulate insulin production.

But the study, published in the journal Neuropharmacology, shows that the drug can also pass through the blood-brain barrier and protect brain cells.

The researchers tested the drug on the brains of 14 month-old mice who were suffering from late stage Alzheimer's disease. Liraglutide was injected into the mice over a 2-month period.

More here.

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Study reveals how schizophrenia affects the brain

 Posted by Neill Abayon

Scientists have discovered how schizophrenia and the use of anti-psychotic drugs can impact brain tissue by reviewing progressive data from brain scans, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
 
 Researchers from the University of Iowa, led by psychiatry professor Nancy Andreasen, analyzed 202 MRI scans of patients who suffer from the mental disorder.

All patients had their scans reviewed from their first schizophrenic episode and at regular 6-month intervals up to a period of 15 years.

The researchers say that as clinical follow-up data was obtained every 6 months, they were able to compute measures of relapse number and duration, and relate these to structural MRI measures.

They note that as higher treatment intensity has previously been linked to smaller brain tissue volumes, this countereffect was measured in terms of dose-years.

More here

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Americans 'healthier and living longer'

Posted by Neill Abayon

Americans are living longer and leading healthier lives compared to 20 years ago, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) analyzed data from multiple government-sponsored health surveys that had been conducted over the last 21 years.

The researchers say that for the first time, they were able to measure how the quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) of all Americans had changed over time.

"QALE tells us more than how long a person can expect to live. It tells us what the relative quality of those added years are in terms of physical, emotional and mental well-being," says Dr. Allison Rosen, associate professor of Quantitive Health Sciences at UMMS.

More here.

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Child cataract blood test developed

The small grey congenital cataract has been present since birth
 By James Gallagher

A blood test that may improve treatment for children born with congenital cataracts has been developed by researchers in Manchester. 

It analyses every known mutation in the DNA which can cause the condition.

The team, which is presenting the test at the British Society for Genetic Medicine, hope it will spread up diagnosis and help decide the best treatment.

The charity RNIB described the test as a "welcome step forward".

About 200 children are born with cataracts in the UK each year.

"Diagnosing a congenital cataract is very easy at birth, but diagnosing the cause takes considerably longer," Prof Graeme Black, from the University of Manchester, said.

The problem is there are more than 100 different mutations in a child's DNA which have been linked to congenital cataracts.

"If you have a child with no family history then finding the cause can take months or years," he told the BBC.

More here.

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Top 20 Frankenfoods to Avoid






Michelle Schoffro Cook


Genetically-modified (GM) foods and food ingredients have infiltrated our food supply, tainting what was once healthy. While agri-businesses continue to claim they are safe, increasing amounts of research demonstrate that GM foods are harmful to human health, damage ecosystems, cause financial calamity for many farmers, and release trans genes that could randomly transfer to other life forms in the environment with the potential for disastrous consequences. A growing body of research links genetically-modified food consumption with sterility, allergies, infant mortality, organ defects, childhood illnesses, and cancer.

Avoid these top 20 foods and food ingredients to make your body GM-free*:

Alfalfa
—Not in the habit of eating alfalfa?  You could be unknowingly eating this food in your beef and dairy products. Used by dairy and beef farmers as feed for cows, genetically-modified alfalfa is common in both beef and milk products.

Aspartame—Not only is aspartame a well-established neurotoxin (brain and nervous system toxin), this laboratory-derived ingredient is made from aspartate, phenylalanine, and menthol, all of which are commonly sourced from genetically-modified ingredients.

Beef—Not only does most beef contain genetically-modified alfalfa, it also contains GM corn and soy, which becomes part of the meat.  If you’re eating beef, choose only organic beef that is grass-fed.

Canola Oil—Ninety percent of canola is genetically-modified to withstand the herbicide glyphosate (Round-Up).

Corn and Corn Starch—Almost all corn is genetically-modified, making this once healthy food a suspected cause of organ damage.  Like corn, the starch extract of this GM-food is found in almost all processed and packaged foods.  If you like battered and deep-fried foods of almost any kind, you’re getting lots of this ingredient and lots of genetically-modified corn. Corn starch is commonly-used to make deep-fried foods crispy.

More here.


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