Smartphone overuse may cause long term eye problems.

Opticians say people are so addicted to smartphones they may be increasing their risk of eye damage.

They are warning overuse from phones and other devices like computers, tablets, and flat screen TVs can lead to long-term damage.
It comes as a survey of 2,000 people suggests under 25s check their phones thirty-two times a day.
Optician Andy Hepworth said: "Blue violet light is potentially hazardous and toxic to the back of your eyes.

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6 digital Exercises To Keep You In Shape While You Work

In the digital age, chances are most of us are deskbound at our workstation and get too little movement during the workday. Fitting time to go to the gym in between work and home life could be strenuous with a 9-to-5 routine, but exercise doesn’t always require a gym membership and changing into shorts and sneakers. To combat the adverse effects desk jobs have on our weight, back, wrists, eyes, neck, and muscles, and to make the most out of the workplace, these six discreet exercises will keep us active and in shape in between our work deadlines.

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(VIDEO) What causes a beer belly?

When you drink beer, your liver has to go into overdrive to detoxify the alcohol. Now add a few packets of crisps to the equation, maybe some peanuts and those calories are there to stay. Beer itself is pretty calorific stuff, to the tune of around 150 calories a unit so why beer makes you fat, well that starts to seem obvious.
Now why does it give you a beer belly specifically? Well the answer is down to two things apparently - gender and age. After about the age of 35 most men's metabolisms start to slow down. While men tend to put weight on their... bellies, women's fat stores commonly go on their backside and hips.

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Faecal transplants effective in treatment of Clostridium difficile infections.

A treatment using faecal matter is a safe and effective procedure for people with a recurring gut infection, the NHS medicines watchdog has said.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on using the transplant procedure to treat repeated Clostridium difficile infections.
C. difficile, caused by an imbalance of bacteria in the gut, can be deadly.
Faecal transplants could be used where antibiotics have failed, NICE said.

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This is How Fast Ventilation Protects Premature Babies:

Superfast ventilation - equivalent to 600 breaths per minute - is the best way to protect extremely premature babies' lungs, a study has concluded.

Most are currently supported with about 30 breaths per minute.
But a study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicates very rapid but shallower breaths led to better long-term lung function.
The researchers, at King's College London, said the findings would provoke intense debate.
They followed 319 babies born before 29 weeks of gestation, from birth to adolescence.
The team compared what happened to the lungs of those given conventional ventilation within an hour of being born, with those on high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV).

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Lack of sleep leads to loss of 25% brain cells:

Sleep loss may be more serious than previously thought, causing a permanent loss of brain cells, research suggests.

In mice, prolonged lack of sleep led to 25% of certain brain cells dying, according to a study in The Journal of Neuroscience.
If the same is true in humans, it may be futile to try to catch up on missed sleep, say US scientists.
They think it may one day be possible to develop a drug to protect the brain from the side-effects of lost sleep.
The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, looked at lab mice that were kept awake to replicate the kind of sleep loss common in modern life, through night shifts or long hours in the office.

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Human Nose can detect one trillion odours

Humans have powerful sight and hearing. We are able to pick out several million distinct colors and almost half a million separate tones. But how powerful is our sense of smell?
A study from 1927 found that humans could detect fewer than 10,000 different odors, and for nearly a hundred years that number went undisputed. But now scientists have discovered that the human sense of smell is much keener than they ever thought.

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Consuming alcohol increases risk of stroke mortality in men

Consuming alcohol more frequently than twice a week increases the risk of stroke mortality in men, according to a study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland. The results show that the effects of alcohol are not limited to the amount consumed, but also the frequency of drinking matters. The results were published in Acta Neurologica Scandinavica on 8 March.

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TV, computer, video game use 'linked to poorer child well-being'

For most children, watching television, using computers and playing video games is a part of day-to-day life. But new research suggests that for young children, such activities are linked to poorer well-being.
This is according to a study recently published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
The research team, led by Trina Hinkley, PhD, of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, says the use of electronic media can be a sedentary behavior and that this behavior can lead to adverse health outcomes, particularly if it is adopted from a young age.

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(VIDEO) Eight Month Old Baby Weighs Over 40 Pounds

Associated Press Videos 0:54 mins

An eight month old baby boy made headlines in Colombia on Tuesday after weighing in at over 40 pounds, three times heavier than an average child of that age. (March 19) 

 CLICK TO WATCH THE  VIDEO

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Salmonella and Escherichia coli play part in Crohn's Disease:

For the thousands of people in the U.S. who suffer daily from Crohn’s disease, treatments mainly target the symptoms, with no known cure. One reason for the limited relief from this chronic and painful type of inflammatory bowel disease is the fact that its exact cause is unknown.
However, the results of a new study that reveals which gut bacteria are involved in Crohn’s disease could provide targets for future treatments, as well as better ways to diagnose the condition.
"These findings can guide the development of better diagnostics," said senior author Dr. Ramnik Xavier of Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in a press release. "More importantly, our study identified specific organisms that are abnormally increased or decreased in disease, which forms a blueprint to develop microbial therapeutics."

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Disbelief on Lesbian HIV transmition:

US health officials have published details of a rare case of suspected female-to-female HIV infection.

A 46-year-old woman "likely acquired" the virus during a six-month monogamous relationship with a HIV-positive woman in Texas, said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
She was infected with a strain that had a 98% genetic match to her partner's.
The virus can be transmitted when bodily fluids come into contact with cuts, abrasions and mucus membranes.

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childbirth and sex hormones helps in treatment of anorexia nervosa:

A hormone released during childbirth and sex could be used as a treatment for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, scientists suggest.

Small studies by UK and Korean scientists indicated patients were less likely to fixate on food and body image after a dose of oxytocin.
About one in every 150 teenage girls in the UK are affected by the condition.
The eating disorders charity Beat said the finding was a long way from becoming a useable treatment.
Oxytocin is a hormone released naturally during bonding, including sex, childbirth and breastfeeding.
It has already been suggested as a treatment for a range of psychiatric disorders, and has been shown to help lower social anxiety in people with autism.

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Restriction of fast-food could prevent obesity epidemic:

Exposure to too many pizza and fried-food outlets can nearly double your chances of obesity, research suggests.
Measures to restrict access, such as not opening takeaway restaurants near schools, may help, scientists report in the BMJ.
Others argue that policymakers should focus on making fast food more healthy.

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Moderate drinking is not safe during pregnancy

Even moderate drinking during the earliest months of pregnancy may be damaging, say researchers in Leeds.

Their study is the latest in a long debate over whether it is safe to drink at all during pregnancy.
The findings, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggest the chances of premature birth increased.
The NHS recommends people avoid alcohol during pregnancy or when trying to conceive.
But says if people choose to drink, then they should not have more than two units of alcohol (about one pint) twice a week.
Heavy drinking in pregnancy is known to be damaging as it can affect the baby's development. But there is far more debate about drinking at the upper limit of the NHS guidelines.
Around seven in every 100 births in the UK is premature.
The study on 1,264 women in Leeds showed drinking more than the two units limit doubled the risk of premature birth, but even drinking at the limit increased the risk.
Camilla Nykjaer, one of the researchers at the University of Leeds, told the BBC: "This is a very sensitive issue, we don't want women who are pregnant now to panic, the individual risk is actually low.
"They shouldn't drink, they should stop drinking if they have been drinking during the pregnancy."

However, a study of more than 11,000 five-year-olds, conducted by University College London, showed drinking one or two units of alcohol a week during pregnancy did not raise the risk of developmental problems in the child.
Prof Yvonne Kelly who conducted that research told the BBC: "Heavy drinking is really very, very bad, but at low levels, in the work we've done we haven't found any negative effects in childhood.
"It's a massively charged area, getting the tone of this right is quite difficult.
"The guidelines are there, women are sentient beings and can choose - it's hugely politically charged all of this, I guess people will make their own judgements."
Dr Patrick O'Brien, a spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "While the safest approach would be to choose not to drink at all, small amounts of alcohol, not more than one to two units once or twice a week, have not been shown to be harmful after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
"Pregnant women should always consult their midwives or doctors if they have any concerns about their alcohol intake."
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Serious Motorbike Accident Survival on Reconstruct 3D printed parts.

A survivor of a serious motorbike accident has had pioneering surgery to reconstruct his face using a series of 3D printed parts.

Stephen Power from Cardiff is thought to be one of the first trauma patients in the world to have 3D printing used at every stage of the procedure.
Doctors at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, had to break his cheekbones again before rebuilding his face.
Mr Power said the operation had been "life changing".
The UK has become one of the world's pioneers in using 3D technology in surgery, with advances also being made by teams in London and Newcastle.

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“Start Quote

I can't remember the accident - I remember five minutes before and then waking up in the hospital a few months later”

Stephen Power

While printed implants have previously been used to help correct congenital conditions, this operation used custom printed models, guides, plates and implants to repair impact injuries months after they were sustained.

Despite wearing a crash helmet Mr Power, 29, suffered multiple trauma injuries in an accident in 2012, which left him in hospital for four months.
"I broke both cheek bones, top jaw, my nose and fractured my skull," he said.
"I can't remember the accident - I remember five minutes before and then waking up in the hospital a few months later."

Stephen Power was photographed before the operation, left, and afterwards, right

Two views of Stephen Power's skull after the operation with temporary staples

A skull model and implants produced using 3D printing

In order to try and restore the symmetry of his face, the surgical team used CT scans to create and print a symmetrical 3D model of Mr Power's skull, followed by cutting guides and plates printed to match.
Maxillofacial surgeon Adrian Sugar says the 3D printing took away the guesswork that can be problematic in reconstructive work.
"I think it's incomparable - the results are in a different league from anything we've done before," he said.
"What this does it allows us to be much more precise. Everybody now is starting to think in this way - guesswork is not good enough."
The procedure took eight hours to complete, with the team first having to re-fracture the cheek bones with the cutting guides before remodelling the face.
'Life changing' A medical-grade titanium implant, printed in Belgium, was then used to hold the bones in their new shape.
Looking at the results of the surgery, Mr Power says he feels transformed - with his face now much closer in shape to how it was before the accident.
"It is totally life changing," he said.
"I could see the difference straight away the day I woke up from the surgery."
Having used a hat and glasses to mask his injuries before the operation, Mr Power has said he already feels more confident.
"I'm hoping I won't have to disguise myself - I won't have to hide away," he said.

The procedure took eight hours to complete

"I'll be able to do day-to-day things, go and see people, walk in the street, even go to any public areas."
The project was the work of the Centre of Applied Reconstructive Technologies in Surgery (Cartis), which is a collaboration between the team in Swansea and scientists at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Design engineer Sean Peel has said the latest advance should encourage greater use of 3D printing within the NHS.
"It tends to be used for individual really complicated cases as it stands - in quite a convoluted, long-winded design process," he said.
"The next victory will be to get this process and technique used more widely as the costs fall and as the design tools improve."
Mr Power's operation is currently being featured in an exhibition at the Science Museum in London, called 3D Printing: The Future.

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{Challenges} Side Effects of Metakelfin on skin colour

Normal skin color for Mr Hafidh Masokola

Skin Color for Mr Hafidh after genetic Mutation caused by Metakelfin

This was reported in Tanzania that Mr Halfidh Masokola who previously exposed to Metakelfin for Malaria treatment, he became albino from normal colour of his skin hence open more room for scientists geneticists to study more on side effects of  Metakelfin on gene mutations:

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This is how food allergies may results into eosinophilic esophagitis:

"Two to 4 years later, they come back with a different allergy," said Jonathan Spergel, MD, chief of the allergy section of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. "Initially, they are getting anaphylactic shock to this food. Now they are getting a swollen esophagus."
Dr. Spergel presented the study results here at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2014.
Eosinophilic esophagitis is characterized by the presence of a large number of white blood cells, called eosinophils, in the tissue of the esophagus, which causes inflammation or swelling. Symptoms include abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, and vomiting. Swelling can become severe enough to cause food impaction.
Recent research has suggested that the mechanism of disease of eosinophilic esophagitis is independent of immunoglobulin E, a key mediator of typical food allergies.
To measure the frequency of food allergy in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis, Dr. Spergel and his team studied 1025 children treated for the condition.

Just because you now tolerate a food doesn't mean you're absolutely clear.

A specific food was identified as the culprit in 425 of those children. A food was considered to cause eosinophilic esophagitis if removing it from the diet stopped symptoms or if reintroducing it into the diet caused symptoms to reoccur.
For these 425 children, the most common triggers were milk, egg, wheat, and soy.
A total of 17 patients developed an eosinophilic esophagitis reaction to a food after they outgrew an allergy to that same food. Milk, egg, wheat, and soy were still the most common esophagitis triggers in this subgroup, and 94% of the patients had atopic disease.
The investigators noted that 2 children had normal biopsies of the esophagus when they had a food allergy. After they outgrew that food allergy, they developed an esophagitis reaction to the same food when that food was reintroduced into their diet.
This study focused on patients who naturally outgrew their food allergies, but about 10% to 15% of patients who undergo oral immunotherapy for their food allergies also develop esophagitis, noted Wesley Burks, MD, physician in chief at North Carolina Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill.
Clinicians should be aware of the symptoms of eosinophilic esophagitis in patients with a history of food allergies, said Dr. Spergel. "When patients outgrow milk or peanut allergies, you need to worry if they come back 2 or 6 months later with abdominal pains and flu-like symptoms. You need to go back and look at whether the food they couldn't eat a few years ago is causing these new symptoms."
"I think Dr. Spergel has a very good point that just because you now tolerate a food doesn't mean you're absolutely clear," said Hugh Sampson, MD, professor of pediatrics, allergy, and immunology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Sampson speculated that patients with typical food allergies might start out susceptible to esophagitis, but be unaware of the condition because they are avoiding the food.
Patients who outgrow their allergies to foods then develop esophagitis in reaction to these foods must once again avoid them, said Dr. Spergel.
The most common treatments for the condition are to swallow small doses of corticosteroids or to inhale corticosteroid asthma medications, he noted.
Dr. Spergel reported financial relationships with Dannone, DBV Technologies, and MEI Pharma. Dr. Burks has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Sampson reports relationships with Dannone, ThermoFisher Scientific, Allertein Therapeutics, Regeneron, Novartis, and UpToDate, among others.
FROM:  American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) 2014: Abstract 990. Presented March 2, 2014.

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Anesthesia and surgery increase the risk for dementia

A large population-based study conducted by investigators at the Neurological Institute in Taipei Veterans General Hospital, in Taipei City, Republic of China, showed that the risk of developing dementia nearly doubled within 3 to 7 years of anesthesia and surgery. In addition, the average time to dementia diagnosis was shorter in patients who had anesthesia and surgery compared with their counterparts who did not undergo these procedures.
The study adds to "growing concerns that anesthetic agents may have neurodegenerative complications," study investigator Jong-Ling Fuh, MD, of the Neurological Institute, told Medscape Medical News.
"In vitro and animal studies showed that inhaled anesthetic drugs can promote amyloid beta oligomerization and impair memory. However, it remains controversial whether anesthesia and surgery contribute to the development of dementia in human studies," she said.
"This population-based study provides statistically sound evidence for the association of dementia with anesthesia and surgery. Our findings support the view that patients who undergo anesthesia and surgery may be at increased risk of dementia."
"Although we do not know how to mitigate the risk of dementia after anesthesia and surgery at this point, physicians and surgeons should be more vigilant about the possible development of long-term cognitive decline postoperatively in patients who have undergone anesthesia and surgery," Dr. Fuh added.
The study was published in the March issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Need for More Research
Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, Dr. Fuh and colleagues extracted the records of 24,901 patients aged 50 years and older who underwent anesthesia for surgery between 2004 and 2007, and a control group of 110,972 randomly selected individuals matched for age and sex. They excluded anyone with a history of cancer, dementia, Parkinsonism, stroke, or brain operations.
During 3 to 7 years of follow-up, 661 patients in the anesthesia group (2.65%) and 1539 in the control group (1.39%) were diagnosed with dementia. Alzheimer's disease accounted for the majority of these cases.
Dementia occurred sooner in the anesthesia group (mean 907 days) than in the control group (mean, 1104 days; P < .0001).
After adjusting for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, depression, and Charlson index, patients who underwent anesthesia and surgery had an estimated 1.99-fold increased risk of developing dementia (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.81 - 2.17; P < .001). The risk for dementia after anesthesia was increased similarly in men and women.
The risk was greatest with regional anesthesia (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.80; 95% CI, 1.57 - 2.07), followed by intravenous/intramuscular anesthesia (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.11 - 2.30) and general anesthesia (HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.28 - 1.68).
Of the 8 types of surgery, 5 were associated with an increased risk for dementia (dermatologic, musculoskeletal, genitourinary, digestive, and eye surgery). Ear, nose, and throat (ENT), respiratory, and cardiovascular surgery was not associated with increased dementia risk.
Dr. Fuh said "caution must be exercised in asserting causality between development of dementia and anesthesia-associated neurotoxicity. More clinical studies are needed to investigate the association and causality between anesthesia with surgery and subsequent dementia."
Red Flags and Caveats
Commenting on the findings for Medscape Medical News, Roderic G. Eckenhoff, MD, professor and vice-chair of research, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who was not involved in the study, said that sometimes surgery is necessary, but in cases of elective surgery, patients may want to think twice.
However, he cautioned that the study has some "big red flags" and said this "is an area in need of further clarification."
"If it's surgery, is it the actual surgery, or the anesthesia, or is it the stress of being in the hospital? It's probably all those things combined, but it's probably the surgical procedure itself that causes the largest risk, at least that's what we believe," Dr. Eckenhoff said.
"This is a good additional study, and its real strength is its size," Dr. Eckenhoff said.
"Even when corrected for comorbidity, they found a significant effect of having had surgery in the past and risk for dementia. The level of risk is about consistent with some of the other studies performed," he noted.
What's "very concerning," he said, is that the demographics and comorbidity are "significantly different" in the surgery group and the control group, "although they did try to correct for that."
Still, "a big red flag and qualifier with this study is that the patients needing surgery are in fact different than the patients who don't need surgery. It may be those differences and not the fact that they had surgery itself that account for the difference in propensity for getting dementia," Dr. Eckenhoff said.
"I think in the end we are going to find that there are small populations of people that are more vulnerable to another insult like surgery and who go downhill more quickly afterwards. The challenge is to figure out who those people are, and that's going to require really good biomarkers," said Dr. Eckenhoff.
The study was supported by Taipei Veterans General Hospital and other noncommercial entities. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
SOURCES: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/821770?src=rss

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4 Tips To Boost your Memory

Oscar Wilde once said, “Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.” Well, what about those days when we’re lucky that our heads are attached to our bodies because we might forget those, too? There are many theories and schools of thought as to why we forget. Some have to do with genetics, others with age. However, this isn’t a dead end for developing a better memory. There are ways to help improve your memory. No, it doesn’t entail tying a string around your finger or writing on your forearm. Take a look below at four proven scientific ways for boosting your memory.

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Management of Drug Overdoses:

• Overdoses account for 15% of acute medical emergencies.
• 65% of drugs involved belong to the patient, a relative, or friend.
• 30% of self-poisonings involve multiple drugs.
• 50% of patients will have taken alcohol as well.
• The history may be unreliable. Question any witnesses or family about where a patient was found and any possible access to drugs. Examination may reveal clues as to the likely poison (e.g. pinpoint pupils with opiates) and signs of solvent or ethanol abuse and iv drug use should be noted

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The Best Ways to Get the Right Diagnosis by Dr. Sierzenski and NSPF

To get the most accurate possible diagnosis if you’re sick, Dr. Sierzenski and NSPF advises these steps:

• Tell your story well. The more clearly you can describe your symptoms—including when they started, what makes them better or worse, and if they occur after exercise, eating, taking medication, or strike at a certain time of day—the easier it will be for your doctor to figure out what is wrong. For example, it’s relatively common for people to develop tendon injuries after taking certain antibiotics, Dr. Sierzenski points out. 

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The First Patient to be Fitted with Artificial heart has died:

The 76-year-old man, who has not been named, died 75 days after the operation in Paris.
The bioprosthetic device, made by French company Carmat, is designed to replace the real heart for up to five years.
It is intended to help patients who are in the advanced stages of heart failure.

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Smoking at Home Damage Children's Blood Vessels:

Passive smoking causes lasting damage to children's arteries, prematurely ageing their blood vessels by more than three years, say researchers.

The damage - thickening of blood vessel walls - increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life, they say in the European Heart Journal.
In their study of more than 2,000 children aged three to 18, the harm occurred if both parents smoked.
Experts say there is no "safe" level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

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Is it Necessary to Urinate after Sexual Intercourse?

It is often said that urinating after sex is very important. Some women may not feel as though they need to urinate after sex, while others simply may feel lazy to do it before they fall asleep or may be in too big of a rush in the morning to urinate before leaving the house. So, is this true or nothing more than just another medical myth? Is it necessary to urinate after having sex? Here are some of the things that you should know about why urinating after sexual intercourse is important.

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7 Surprising Predictors for your life expectancy:

Which of these factors has a greater impact on your life expectancy: smoking or how fast you can push a button? A startling new study reports that a slow reaction time is linked to higher threat of both premature death and cardiovascular disease (CVD, the no. 1 killer of Americans), with an impact as great as such well-known risk factors as smoking.
The research, which included 5,134 adults, ages 20-59, was published in PLOS ONE. Participants were asked to press a button when the number “0” was displayed on a screen at random intervals, then they were tracked for 15 years.
Those with the slowest reaction times had a 25 percent higher death rate when all causes of mortality were combined, and were 36 percent more likely to die from  CVD, compared to those with faster reaction times.
Here’s a look at six other surprising predictors of longevity.

Your Personality

In a 90-year study of more than 1,500 Americans, those who lived the longest were frugal, persistent, hardworking, and somewhat obsessive in their youth. The study also found that a certain amount of worry was beneficial, since it encouraged healthy habits.  

Your Blood Count

A simple blood test known as a complete blood count (CBC) may predict life expectancy, researchers from Harvard and other centers reported at the 2013 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November. In a study that included more than 17,000 people from 26 countries who were tracked for up to give years, those with a high CBC score were twice as likely to die as those with low scores. People whose scores fell in the middle of the range had a 50 percent rise in mortality risk, compared to those with low scores.
28 Tips for a Healthier Heart
Your Education
Four years of college could add a decade to your lifespan, according to a study published in Health Affairs. The researchers found that in women, having 16 or more years of education raised life expectancy by up to 10.4 years, while men gained up to 12.9 years, compared to people with less than 12 years of schooling.  The study also found that people who didn’t complete high school had life expectances comparable to adults in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Your Dental Care

Taking excellent care of your teeth can add years to your life, according to a 2012 study of 5,611 seniors who were tracked over a 17-year period. During that time span, those who never flossed had a 30 percent higher death rate than did people who flossed daily. Not brushing at night raised mortality risk by 20 to 35 percent, versus brushing every night. And people who hadn’t seen a dentist in the previous 12 months were up to 50 percent more likely to die than those who received dental care two or more times a year.
10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Smile
Your Walking Speed
An analysis that pooled the results of 9 studies that included 34,485 people ages 65 or older—followed for 6 to 21 years--found a strong correlation between a brisker walking pace and longer life. In fact, predictions based on the person’s age, sex and walking speed alone were equally accurate as predictions that also included such health data as chronic disorders, smoking history, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and hospitalizations. The speed associated with longer than average lifespan in seniors was 1 meter per second or higher (about 2.25 miles per hour). 

How Easily You Can Stand Up

People who have the most difficulty sitting on the floor and then standing up again are 6.5 times more likely to die in the next six years as those who can perform these actions easily, researchers report. The study included more than 2,000 people ages 51 to 80 who were asked to sit and stand with as little support as possible (to see a video of the sitting test, click here). For example, those who needed to touch a hand or knee to the ground or push off with a hand on their knee got a lower score than those who didn’t need support to sit and stand up
Source: http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/7-surprising-predictors-how-long-you-will-live

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Hearing Loss Contribute to Mental Decline:

Older adults with impaired hearing may have a faster rate of brain shrinkage as they age, a new study suggests.
A number of studies have found that older people with hearing loss tend to have a quicker decline in their memory and thinking skills, compared to those with normal hearing.
"We've known that common, age-related hearing loss is associated with cognitive [mental] decline. The question is, why?" said Dr. Frank Lin, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the lead researcher on the new study.
The findings, he said, offer one potential explanation: Older adults with hearing problems lose brain volume more quickly than their peers with normal hearing.
The precise reason is not clear, and the real-life impact is unknown. The study did not test participants' actual mental ability.
But the "biggest question," Lin said, is whether treating hearing impairment can slow changes in brain structure and, more importantly, delay dementia.
He and his colleagues are now planning a trial to test that idea.
The current findings are based on 126 adults aged 56 to 86 who underwent yearly MRI scans to track brain-tissue changes for up to a decade. At the time of the first scan, they also had a physical and a hearing test. Of participants, 51 showed some degree of hearing loss -- mostly the mild variety where people have trouble hearing soft voices, for instance.
Lin's team found that older adults with hearing problems showed a faster decline in brain volume over the years -- especially in brain regions involved in processing sound and speech.
The study, published online Jan. 9 in the journal NeuroImage, cannot prove that hearing loss directly causes brain-tissue loss. But the basic "use it or lose it" principle may apply, according to Lin.
"The ear is no longer sending clear messages to the brain," he said. Without that input, sound-processing brain regions may change in structure.
What's more, Lin said, those brain areas have other jobs, too. Among other things, they play a role in memory and processing information other than sounds.
A hearing expert not involved in the study said it's "interesting," and raises the question of whether treating hearing impairment can prevent brain-tissue loss or slow mental decline.
"But we need a study to test that, and that study has yet to be done," said Dr. Ian Storper, an otologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City.
Even though researchers have found a link between hearing loss and mental decline, Storper noted, "that doesn't prove causation." Both hearing loss and brain-volume loss are common parts of aging, and there are many other variables that may be related to both, Storper added.
Lin's team did account for some other health factors -- like whether people smoked, or had high blood pressure or diabetes. And there was still a connection between impaired hearing and greater brain-volume loss.
But Lin agreed that what's ultimately needed is a trial testing whether hearing loss treatment slows mental decline.
"In the end," Lin said, "what everyone cares about is, what can we do about it?"
There are, of course, already reasons to treat hearing loss, Storper said. In some cases, treatment can be as easy as removing impacted ear wax, he noted.
But often, older adults need a hearing aid or assistive devices that make it easier to hear in specific situations -- while talking on the phone or watching TV, for example.
According to the U.S. National Institute on Aging, almost one-third of Americans aged 65 to 74 have at least mild hearing loss -- as do nearly half of those aged 75 and older.
If impaired hearing is one contributor to mental decline and dementia, Lin said, then treating it could have a big impact on public health.
Read more from: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2014/01/28/hearing-loss-tied-to-faster-brain-shrinkage-with-age

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Effective HIV vaccine comes closer to reality

Washington: Scientific have discovered how the immune system makes a powerful antibody that blocks HIV infection of cells by targeting a key site, paving way for an effective vaccine for the deadly virus.
Researchers believe that if a vaccine could elicit potent antibodies to a specific conserved site in the V1V2 region of the virus, one of a handful of sites that remains constant on the fast-mutating virus, then the vaccine could protect people from HIV infection.
Analyses of the results of a clinical trial of the only experimental HIV vaccine to date to have modest success in people suggest that antibodies to sites within V1V2 were protective.

The new findings point the way towards a potentially more effective vaccine that would generate V1V2 directed HIV neutralising antibodies, researchers said.

The new findings point the way towards a potentially more effective vaccine that would generate V1V2 directed HIV neutralising antibodies, researchers said. The study led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) scientists began by identifying an HIV-infected volunteer who naturally developed V1V2-directed HIV neutralising antibodies, named CAP256-VRC26, after several months of infection.
Using techniques similar to those employed in an earlier study of HIV-antibody co-evolution, the researchers analysed blood samples donated by the volunteer between 15 weeks and 4 years after becoming infected.
This enabled the scientists to determine the genetic make-up of the original form of the antibody; to identify and define the structures of a number of the intermediate forms taken as the antibody mutated towards its fullest breadth and potency.
It also allowed them to describe the interplay between virus and antibody that fostered the maturation of CAP256-VRC26 to its final, most powerful HIV-fighting form. The study showed that after relatively few mutations, even the early intermediates of CAP256-VRC26 can neutralise a significant proportion of known HIV strains.
This improves the chances that a V1V2-directed HIV vaccine developed based on the new findings would be effective, according to scientists, who have begun work on a set of vaccine components designed to elicit V1V2 neutralising antibodies and guide their maturation.

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Hot temper may increase your risks to heart attacks

Having a hot temper may increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, according to researchers.

Rage often precedes an attack and may be the trigger, say the US researchers who trawled medical literature.
They identified a dangerous period of about two hours following an outburst when people were at heightened risk.
But they say more work is needed to understand the link and find out if stress-busting strategies could avoid such complications.

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It's not clear what causes this effect. It may be linked to the physiological changes that anger causes to our bodies, but more research is needed to explore the biology behind this”

Doireann Maddock British Heart Foundation

People who have existing risk factors, such as a history of heart disease, are particularly susceptible, they told the European Heart Journal.

In the two hours immediately after an angry outburst, risk of a heart attack increased nearly five-fold and risk of stroke increased more than three-fold, the data from nine studies and involving thousands of people suggests.
The Harvard School of Public Health researchers say, at a population level, the risk with a single outburst of anger is relatively low - one extra heart attack per 10,000 people per year could be expected among people with low cardiovascular risk who were angry only once a month, increasing to an extra four per 10,000 people with a high cardiovascular risk.
But the risk is cumulative, meaning temper-prone individuals will be at higher risk still.
Five episodes of anger a day would result in around 158 extra heart attacks per 10,000 people with a low cardiovascular risk per year, increasing to about 657 extra heart attacks per 10,000 among those with a high cardiovascular risk, Dr Elizabeth Mostofsky and colleagues calculate.

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Preventing problems

• Eat healthily
• Exercise regularly
• Keep a healthy weight
• Give up smoking
• Don't drink too much alcohol
• Take medications prescribed for you

Dr Mostofsky said: "Although the risk of experiencing an acute cardiovascular event with any single outburst of anger is relatively low, the risk can accumulate for people with frequent episodes of anger."

It's unclear why anger might be dangerous - the researchers point out that their results do not necessarily indicate that anger causes heart and circulatory problems.
Experts know that chronic stress can contribute to heart disease, partly because it can raise blood pressure but also because people may deal with stress in unhealthy ways - by smoking or drinking too much alcohol, for example.
The researchers say it is worth testing what protection stress-busting strategies, such as yoga, might offer.
Doireann Maddock, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "It's not clear what causes this effect. It may be linked to the physiological changes that anger causes to our bodies, but more research is needed to explore the biology behind this.
"The way you cope with anger and stress is also important. Learning how to relax can help you move on from high-pressure situations. Many people find that physical activity can help to let off steam after a stressful day.
"If you think you are experiencing harmful levels of stress or frequent anger outbursts talk to your GP."
Story source http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26416153

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Biggest ancient virus 'comes back to life'

An ancient virus has come back to life after lying dormant for at least 30,000 years, scientists say.

It was found frozen in a deep layer of the Siberian permafrost, but after it thawed it became infectious once again.
The French scientists say the contagion poses no danger to humans or animals, but other viruses could be unleashed as the ground becomes exposed.
The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, from the National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) at the University of Aix-Marseille in France, said: "This is the first time we've seen a virus that's still infectious after this length of time."
Biggest virus
The ancient pathogen was discovered buried 30m (100ft) down in the frozen ground.
Called Pithovirus sibericum, it belongs to a class of giant viruses that were discovered 10 years ago.

The virus infects amoebas but does not attack human or animal cells

These are all so large that, unlike other viruses, they can be seen under a microscope. And this one, measuring 1.5 micrometres in length, is the biggest that has ever been found.
The last time it infected anything was more than 30,000 years ago, but in the laboratory it has sprung to life once again.
Tests show that it attacks amoebas, which are single-celled organisms, but does not infect humans or other animals.
Co-author Dr Chantal Abergel, also from the CNRS, said: "It comes into the cell, multiplies and finally kills the cell. It is able to kill the amoeba - but it won't infect a human cell."
However, the researchers believe that other more deadly pathogens could be locked in Siberia's permafrost.
"We are addressing this issue by sequencing the DNA that is present in those layers," said Dr Abergel.
"This would be the best way to work out what is dangerous in there."
'Recipe for disaster'
The researchers say this region is under threat. Since the 1970s, the permafrost has retreated and reduced in thickness, and climate change projections suggest it will decrease further.
It has also become more accessible, and is being eyed for its natural resources.

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Finding a virus still capable of infecting its host after such a long time is still pretty astounding”

Prof Jonathan Ball University of Nottingham

Prof Claverie warns that exposing the deep layers could expose new viral threats.

He said: "It is a recipe for disaster. If you start having industrial explorations, people will start to move around the deep permafrost layers. Through mining and drilling, those old layers will be penetrated and this is where the danger is coming from."
He told BBC News that ancient strains of the smallpox virus, which was declared eradicated 30 years ago, could pose a risk.
"If it is true that these viruses survive in the same way those amoeba viruses survive, then smallpox is not eradicated from the planet - only the surface," he said.
"By going deeper we may reactivate the possibility that smallpox could become again a disease of humans in modern times."
However, it is not yet clear whether all viruses could become active again after being frozen for thousands or even millions of years.
"That's the six million dollar question," said Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist from the University of Nottingham, who was commenting on the research.
"Finding a virus still capable of infecting its host after such a long time is still pretty astounding - but just how long other viruses could remain viable in permafrost is anyone's guess. It will depend a lot on the actual virus. I doubt they are all as robust as this one."
He added: "We freeze viruses in the laboratory to preserve them for the future. If they have a lipid envelope - like flu or HIV, for example - then they are a bit more fragile, but the viruses with an external protein shell - like foot and mouth and common cold viruses - survive better.
"But it's the freezing-thawing that poses the problems, because as the ice forms then melts there's a physical damaging effect. If they do survive this, then they need to find a host to infect and they need to find them pretty fast."
From: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26387276

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Childhood Nightmares Warning for Psychotic Disorders:

Regular nightmares in childhood may be an early warning sign of psychotic disorders, researchers in the UK warn.

The study, in the journal Sleep, said most children had nightmares, but persistent ones may be a sign of something more serious.
Having night terrors - screaming and thrashing limbs while asleep - also heightened the risk.
The charity YoungMinds said it was an important study which may help people detect early signs of mental illness.
Nearly 6,800 people were followed up to the age of 12.
Parents were regularly asked about any sleep problems in their children and at the end of the study the children were assessed for psychotic experiences such as hallucinations, delusions and thinking their thoughts were being controlled.

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Nightmares are relatively common, as are night terrors, it is quite normal, but if they persist then there may be something more serious about it"”

Prof Dieter Wolke University of Warwick

The study showed that the majority of children had nightmares at some point, but in 37% of cases, parents reported problems with nightmares for several years in succession.

One in 10 of the children had night terrors, generally between the ages of three and seven.
Warning light The team at the University of Warwick said a long-term problem with nightmares and terrors was linked to a higher risk of mental health problems later.
Around 47 in every 1,000 children has some form of psychotic experience.
However, those having nightmares aged 12 were three-and-a-half times more likely to have problems and the risk was nearly doubled by regular night terrors.
One of the researchers, Prof Dieter Wolke, told the BBC: "Nightmares are relatively common, as are night terrors, it is quite normal, but if they persist then there may be something more serious about it."
The relationship between sleep problems and psychosis is not clear.
One theory is that bullying or other traumatic events early in life can cause both symptoms.
Or the way some children's brains are wired means the boundaries between what is real and unreal, or sleeping and wakefulness, are less distinct.
It means treating the sleep issues may not prevent psychotic events.
However, nightmares may act as an early warning sign of future, more serious, problems.
Prof Wolke said a regular routine and quality sleep were key to tackling nightmares: "Sleep hygiene is very important, they should have more regular sleep, avoid anxiety-promoting films before bed and not have a computer at night."
Night terrors occur at specific points during sleep and can be managed by briefly waking the child.
Lucie Russell, the director of campaigns at YoungMinds, said: "This is a very important study because anything that we can do to promote early identification of signs of mental illness is vital to help the thousands of children that suffer.
"Early intervention is crucial to help avoid children suffering entrenched mental illness when they reach adulthood."
FROM: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26385274

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4 women with new ransplanted wombs are trying to get pregnant:

LONDON (AP) — A Swedish doctor says four Swedish women who received transplanted wombs have had embryos transferred into them in an attempt to get pregnant.
Since 2012, nine women have received wombs donated by relatives in an experimental procedure designed to test whether it's possible to transfer a uterus into a woman so she can give birth to her own child. The women had in-vitro fertilization before the transplant, using their own eggs to make embryos.
"We have already begun transferring embryos into four of the women and plan to make attempts with the others when they are ready," said Dr. Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Goteburg, who is leading the research.
He would not say Monday whether any of the women are pregnant. Of the nine who got transplanted wombs, two had to have them removed because of complications.
Brannstrom predicted that three or four of the seven women might successfully give birth.
"One or two more will perhaps get pregnant and miscarry and one or two won't be able to get pregnant," he said.
Brannstrom said any woman who does get pregnant will be on a low dose of drugs to keep from rejecting the transplanted womb and will be monitored as a high-risk pregnancy. He said some women had received their new wombs from their mothers and there was a higher rate of complications with older uteruses.
The transplants are intended to benefit women unable to have children because they lost a uterus to cancer or were born without one. About one girl in 4,500 is born with MRKH, where she doesn't have a womb.
Brannstrom said the transplanted wombs would be removed after a maximum of two pregnancies.
"Based on our previous work and animal studies, we are optimistic," he said. "But we cannot guarantee anything."

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Doctors aim to grow ears and noses from fat:

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

New ears could be the first application of the technique

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Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London are aiming to reconstruct people's faces with stem cells taken from their fat.

The team has grown cartilage in the laboratory and believe it could be used to rebuild ears and noses.
They say the technique, published in the journal Nanomedicine, could revolutionise care.
Experts said there was some way to go, but it had the potential to be "transformative".
The doctors want to treat conditions like microtia, that results in the ear failing to develop properly and can be missing or malformed.
At the moment, children have cartilage taken from their ribs, which is then delicately sculpted by surgeons to resemble an ear and implanted into the child.
It requires multiple operations, leaves permanent scarring on the chest and the rib cartilage never recovers.
From fat The team envisage an alternative - a tiny sample of fat would be taken from the child and stem cells would be extracted and grown from it.
An ear-shaped "scaffold" would be placed in the stem cell broth so the cells would take on the desired shape and structure. And chemicals would be used to persuade the stem cells to transform into cartilage cells.
This could then be implanted beneath the skin to give the child an ear shape.
The researchers have been able to create the cartilage in the scaffold, but safety testing is needed before they could be used in patients.
One of the researchers, Dr Patrizia Ferretti, told the BBC: "It is really exciting to have the sort of cells that are not tumourogenic, that can go back into the same patient so we don't have the problem of immunosuppression and can do the job you want them to do.
"It would be the Holy Grail to do this procedure through a single surgery, so decreasing enormously the stress for the children and having a structure that hopefully will be growing as the child grows."
New ear

Samuel Clompus before the operation to rebuild his ear

The technique could help patients like 15-year old Samuel Clompus, who has had the reconstructive ear surgery.
His mother, Sue, said the family welcomed the research.
She told the BBC: "They wouldn't have needed to take the cartilage.
"He has a scar there now and Sam said it was the most uncomfortable bit."
The technique could be used to create cartilage for other tissues such as the nose, which can be damaged in adults after cancer surgery.
Doctors say they could also make bone using the same starting material.
"Obviously we are at the beginning of this, the next step will be to perfect just the choice of materials and to develop this further," said Dr Ferretti.
Commenting on the study, Prof Martin Birchall, a surgeon at University College London, said: "If you had something that was truly regenerative, that would be transformative."
He was involved in the first operations to give people lab-grown windpipes.
He said the fat-based technique needed more safety testing to reach that stage.
"We used [bone marrow] stem cells as they've been used in 10,000s of people for bone marrow transplants, fat stem cells are likely to be fine, but they haven't got that safety record yet."

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Silencing genes May Reduce spread of Breast cancer:

Myoferlin, a protein only recently linked to cancer, may help breast cancer cells transform so they can escape tumors and migrate to new sites. When researchers implanted mice with breast cancer cells that couldn't make the protein because of its gene was switched off, the cells did not transform into the type that migrates.
Researchers at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, had already shown this was happening in cell cultures. Now in a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, they describe how they got similar results in mice.
The mice implanted with breast cancer cells lacking the ability to make myoferlin developed small, self-contained tumors that only contained non-migrating cells.
But mice implanted with breast cancer cells that could make myoferlin developed larger, irregular tumors whose cells invaded surrounding tissue.
In their study report the researchers describe how they found two main effects from reducing cancer cells' ability to make myoferlin: one affected behavior of the cells, and the other their mechanical properties.
It appears that without myoferlin, many genes required to help cells migrate (metastasize) don't get switched on, so they behave more like cells that stay put.
And without myoferlin, the cells can't alter the mechanical properties that make it possible for them to travel and invade. Instead, they stay huddled together in the primary tumor.

Findings open door to possible new individualized treatments

These and other findings mean it may be possible to develop breast cancer treatment tailored to an individual's need - depending on the protein levels and mechanical properties of their breast cancer cells.
Senior author Douglas Kniss, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at OSU's Wexner Medical Center, explains how their discoveries may be useful:
Read more on: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/273442.php

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Friends social pain or empathy causes physical pain:

 We all have friends that we cherish. Some can be as close to us as our own family. Now, new research suggests that if a bond with a friend is threatened or lost, we see a friend in distress, or we become excluded socially, these experiences can cause us to feel physical pain.

This is according to a study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
The research team, from the International School for Advance Studies (SISSA) in Italy, conducted a series of experiments on a group of participants, during which their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The investigators say the way they conducted this study is innovative, compared with previous research looking at the association between social and physical pain.
"Classic experiments used a stylized procedure in which social exclusion situations were simulated by cartoons. We suspected that this simplification was excessive and likely to lead to systematic biases in data collection, so we used real people in videos," explains study author Giorgia Silani.
One of the experiments involved a game in which subjects tossed a ball to each other, but one of the players was deliberately excluded by the others. Either a player was excluded his or herself, or a friend was excluded to trigger a condition of social pain.
In another experiment, a participant or the friend of a participant received a mildly painful stimulus. Each participant was a witness to their friend's experience and this triggered the condition of physical pain.

Social pain in ourselves and others triggers physical pain

The researchers found that both conditions activated the posterior insular cortex of the brain - the region linked to the sensory processing of physical pain. Interestingly, this region of the brain was activated whether a person experienced the social or physical pain conditions themselves, or witnessed a friend experiencing both conditions.
According to the investigators, the feeling of social pain guides our behavior. They explain that a person's ultimate goal is to "prioritize escape, recovery and healing," which is why we feel social pain and are able to empathize when others experience it.
Commenting on the research, study author Giorgia Silani says:

"Our findings lend support to the theoretical model of empathy that explains involvement in other people's emotions by the fact that our representation is based on the representation of our own emotional experience in similar conditions."

Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/273413.php

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