Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
1.Manage your stress.
The constant drumbeat of daily stresses such as deadline pressures or petty arguments can certainly distract you and affect your ability to focus and recall. But the bigger problem is an ongoing sense of extreme anxiety—that can lead to memory impairment. If you don’t have a strategy in place for managing your stress, protecting your memory is one reason to get one. Deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and a “mindful” approach to living can all help.
Thursday, 2 October 2014
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Sept. 16, 2014 -- New Swedish research shows that eating
and drinking high-fat dairy products is linked to a lower risk of
getting type 2 diabetes. This finding appears to contradict current guidance, which recommends people with diabetes choose low-fat dairy products whenever possible.
Pelvic muscle exercises, bladder
training and weight loss can help, doctors say
Effective treatment options exist for women
with urinary incontinence that don't
involve medication or surgery, according to new guidelines from the American
College of Physicians.
Exercises to strengthen the pelvic
floor muscles,bladder training and weight loss could help,
the group advised.
Friday, 15 August 2014
Chikungunya is a virus transmitted to humans by infected mosquitos. Though it mainly affects people living in Africa and Asia, it has been identified in Europe and even the US recently. Though there is no cure for the virus, the first human trial of a new vaccine - published in The Lancet - appears to provide protection against it.
The name "chikungunya" comes from a word in the Kimakonde language, which means "to become contorted" - referring to the hunched appearance of sufferers with joint pain. Other symptoms of the virus include muscle pain, headache, fever, nausea, fatigue and rash. It was first described during an outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952.
"Since 2006, the virus has caused outbreaks of disease where it had never been previously reported, including Italy, France, and most recently, the USA," says study leader Dr. Julie Ledgerwood at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.
"Currently, we have no licensed vaccines or approved drugs for this debilitating infection, which causes fever and intensely painful, severe arthritis," she adds.
She and her colleagues explain that, unlike other chikungunya virus candidates, the new vaccine uses non-infectious virus-like particles (VLP) composed of the structural proteins from the West African strain 37997, which is typically seen by the immune system.
According to the team, the nanoparticles imitate the immune effects of actual virus particles without causing infection because they do not actually contain the virus' genetic material.
More on this story http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/281062.php
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has donated N150million to help in the fight of the spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Foundation, Mrs Adhiambo Odaga announced this at a media briefing at the Ministry of Health, Abuja on Monday. She said the money will be available for the establishment of an Ebola emergency operation centre in Lagos.
Friday, 8 August 2014
Taking aspirin every day
can reduce the chance of developing or dying from bowel and stomach
cancers, a review of all available evidence suggests.
And scientists predict if everyone aged 50 and above in the
UK took the drug for 10 years, some 122,000 deaths could be prevented
over two decades. But they warn aspirin can cause internal bleeding and say medical advice must be sought before using it.
Other species face similar threats, of course, and we're reminded of the devastating effect parasites have in nature every day. Tasmanian devils are suffering an epidemic of facial tumour disease, a kind of parasitic cancer. A disease called chytridiomycosis, which is caused by a particularly nasty fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has ravaged nearly a third of the world's frog populations. Up to 90% of koalas suffer from chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that's caused by bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis, in some parts of Australia. Great apes like chimpanzees and gorillas and even humans are being hit hard by the Ebola virus, pneumonia and other diseases.
It makes a great deal of sense, then, that animals would have evolved mechanisms for protecting themselves from infection and illness long before we could simply swallow a few pills. So what defence mechanisms have other species developed?
But salmon and other piscine sufferers of sea lice interact symbiotically with other, smaller fish species that eat the sea lice off their skin. In the wild and in aquariums, it had long been known that fish like the corkwing wrasse, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, goldsinny, and rock cook have a role as cleaner fish. The cleaner fish get a nice meal, and the salmon get a clean bill of health.
In the early 1990s, Norway's Institute of Fisheries Technology Research discovered that they could control the prevalence of sea lice in salmon farms by introducing those and other cleaner fish into the enclosures. One experiment found that just one wrasse was sufficient to keep one hundred salmon clean, and another found that a goldsinny could keep 150 salmon in prime health. A single goldsinny could eat 45 lice from two salmon in just 90 minutes.
Elsewhere, the humble ant has also evolved some unique social behaviours in order to keep their colonies healthy. In some ways, ant colonies behave as if they're one large superorganism; rather than leaving each individual responsible for its own health, the colony has what researchers have called “social immunity”.
Bury the dead
When a colony member dies, surviving ants go out of their way to remove the lifeless body from the colony. It isn't yet known what sorts of bacteria, viruses, or fungi grow on the bodies of dead ants, but biologists have long thought that corpse removal was a behaviour that evolved to keep the colony healthy, because the deceased individual could have been, or could become, infected. But it had never been proven, until now.
Behaviours that reduce an animal's exposure to infectious parasites, from hiring cleaner fish to hiding dead corpses, probably evolved to combat the deadly pressure of disease, just as animals evolved camouflage to escape being gobbled up by toothy predators. A 2004 study of 60 ungulate species as the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park found that the animals still automatically groomed themselves, despite the fact that they were free from parasites. In other words, grooming evolved as a kind of precautionary, preventative measure rather than as an an immediate, reflexive response to skin irritation. Although the study only looked at ungulates, it seems reasonable to assume that grooming behaviours across the animal kingdom – from big cats licking themselves to primates picking the parasites from their skin– may have evolved in a similar way.
Hygiene issues
We humans also have an array of innate defenses against illness. By looking for parasites in fossilised human faecal samples, in Egyptian mummies, and in archaeological sites, and comparing them to parasites known to infect humans and other apes, University of Cambridge researcher Piers Mitchell identified a handful of parasites, like threadworms (nematodes that infect the intestines) or liver flukes (flatworms that infect the liver or gall bladder), to which we may well have our own innate physiological defenses, because we have had to contend with them for a million years or more. We should be more readily able to combat those infections than for parasites to which we have only been recently introduced. At least, that's the idea.
There are some seemingly unpalatable ways being tested to deal with this. Early trials suggest a host of allergies and autoimmune diseases could be treated by swallowing parasitic worms, or by faecal transplants that re-introduce beneficial microbes back into the gut.
While we may think humans have the upper hand, we have to accept that viruses, bacteria, and all the rest are crafty creatures themselves, that have since evolved their own defenses against our tactics. No doubt we will come up with more sophisticated ways in which to tackle the threat. But one intriguing question is this: is there anything we can learn from other animals' cleaning behaviours that could help us survive our war with disease?
"Time of day really does matter when testing older adults," says lead author John Anderson. "This age group is more focused and better able to ignore distraction in the morning than in the afternoon."
He and his colleagues note that their study provides the strongest evidence yet that there are measurable differences throughout the day in brain function for older adults.
Monday, 28 April 2014
Nearly half of the people asked said they wanted more food after drinking
Drinking more than three
large glasses of wine can push people over a "tipping point", meaning
they consume about 6,300 extra calories in the following 24 hours, a
report has said.
The extra calories could lead to gaining 2lb a week (900g), the survey of 2,042 people suggested. 
Saudi Arabia says more than 100 patients infected with the Mers coronavirus have now died since the outbreak began in 2012.
The health ministry said another eight deaths occurred on Sunday, taking the toll to 102.The acting health minister says three hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam have been designated specialist centres for treating Mers.
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Health Correspondent Adam Brimelow explains how the sensor works
Researchers
have developed a new type of pressure sensor - dubbed a "second skin" -
which they say could prevent dangerous sores.
The technology is being developed initially for amputees who suffer rubbing against their artificial limbs. Monday, 14 April 2014
Some men even get swollen stomachs
|
Researchers at St George's University, London, who carried out the study of 282 Dads-to-be said the phenomenon was known as "Couvade syndrome".
Experts said it was not clear why some men had similar symptoms to their partners but it could be related to anxiety over the pregnancy.
Specialists monitored the men, aged between 19 and 55, whose partners attended St George's Hospital during their pregnancy and compared the findings with a similar number of controls.
Saturday, 12 April 2014
The National Institute of Health researchers write that while many doctors prescribe low dose aspirin to women who have suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth and want to conceive again, there is no substantial evidence to prove this actually works.
Dr. Enrique Schisterman, chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, MD, and colleagues carried out the study - the largest of its kind - by randomly assigning more than 1,000 women with a history of miscarriage or stillbirth to one of two groups: an aspirin group and a placebo group.
Epstein-Barr virus - the cause of infectious mononucleosis - is
responsible for a range of illnesses, such as Hodgkin's lymphoma and
Burkitt's lymphoma. But now, researchers have discovered how it takes
over our cells' gene-regulating mechanisms to allow the virus to
duplicate itself.
Commonly known as the "kissing disease" - because it can be passed from human to human through kissing - Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is also known as human herpesvirus 4.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), EBV is spread by saliva through kissing, sharing drinks and food, using the same cups or utensils, or having contact with toys children have drooled on.
Commonly known as the "kissing disease" - because it can be passed from human to human through kissing - Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is also known as human herpesvirus 4.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), EBV is spread by saliva through kissing, sharing drinks and food, using the same cups or utensils, or having contact with toys children have drooled on.
Four women have had new vaginas grown in the laboratory and implanted by doctors in the US.
A tissue sample and a biodegradable scaffold were used to
grow vaginas in the right size and shape for each woman as well as being
a tissue match. They all reported normal levels of "desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction" and painless intercourse.
Experts said the study, published in the Lancet, was the latest example of the power of regenerative medicine.
'I feel fortunate' In each woman the vagina did not form properly while they were still inside their mother's womb, a condition known as vaginal aplasia.
Current treatments can involve surgically creating a cavity, which is then lined with skin grafts or parts of the intestine.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Video Overview: Mental Boost from Spending Time With Grandchildren
A new study found that postmenopausal women who spend a bit of time with their grandchild may do better on tests of memory than women who don't.
But it seems to be a case of too much of a good thing not being so good. Women who spent significantly more time caring for their grandchild showed memory impairment, the study found.
"Spend time with your grandchildren for a mental boost."
The research was led by Katherine Burn, BSc, of the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The researchers used information from the Women's Healthy Aging Project, which involved questionnaires administered by trained field workers in 2004. They asked whether the women, aged 57 to 68, had grandchildren, whether they cared for them, how often they cared for them if they did and whether their children had been particularly demanding of them in the past 12 months.
The women were given a series of four tests as part of a neuropsychological assessment.
There were 186 women in the study, of which 131 were grandmothers. Of these, 111 were currently caring for their grandchildren. The number of grandchildren they cared for varied.
Those caring for grandchildren one day a week had the highest cognitive performance of all, better than women who did not care for grandchildren at all and better than grandmothers who did so more often.
Related: Exercising Away Cognitive Impairment
Those who cared for their grandchildren five days a week or more did less well with their working memory (recent memory) and with the time it took for them to process thoughts.
Most of the respondents (67.6 percent) reported that they did not feel their children were particularly demanding, but those who did report finding their children demanding tended to be those who watched their grandchildren often and did not fare as well on the memory tests. The study's authors suggested that mood may play a role in how well these women performed on the tests.
These authors wrote that the population of women studied are generally better educated and healthier than the general population, which may have influenced the findings.
"Because grandmothering is such an important and common social role for postmenopausal women, we need to know more about its effects on their future health," said NAMS Executive Director Margery Gass, MD. "This study is a good start."
Related: Health Risks Seniors Should Be Aware Of
This study was small, according to Jim McAleer, MPA, president of the Alzheimer's Association, but the results did not surprise him. He said in an email that other studies have shown that social engagement and exercise (and it's assumed there is some exercise involved in caring for children) benefit the mind. "It's surprising that longer periods of care impacted memory function. Perhaps extend physical exertion in those cases caused other health problems that impacted memory, or increased stress -- a known risk factor for memory loss."
Peter Strong, PhD, of the Boulder Center for Mindfulness Therapy, wrote in an email that he believes the inner feeling of self-worth that comes from being socially engaged with grandchildren is what's important. As for the negative effect of spending too much time caring for their grandchildren? "Once a week is enough to develop this inner belief; any more than this may create the opposite belief of not being physically or mentally able to fulfill the expectations of extended child minding and this will undermine the positive belief of self-worth."
Adding urgency to the quest to uncover hidden
triggers is the grim fact that in many cases, the first symptom of
cardiovascular disease (CVD) can be a fatal heart attack or stroke. CVD ranks
as the leading killer of Americans.
Here’s a look at some little-known heart hazards—and how to protect yourself.
Here’s a look at some little-known heart hazards—and how to protect yourself.
Saturday, 5 April 2014
In the heart of close-knit gay community, Luke Martel reflects the
feelings of many when it comes to a strain of meningitis that has killed
three gay men this year in Los Angeles County: He's concerned but not
overly so.
Martel, a gay bartender who moved to West Hollywood from New York City several months ago, called the deaths from the rare bacterial infection that can be passed by kissing, sharing utensils or coughing "a little scary" but said he doesn't plan to heed calls to get vaccinated.
"I might not take a drag off someone's cigarette now. And I'll run from people who don't cover their mouths when they cough," he said. But otherwise, he believes, "I'm safe."
Martel, a gay bartender who moved to West Hollywood from New York City several months ago, called the deaths from the rare bacterial infection that can be passed by kissing, sharing utensils or coughing "a little scary" but said he doesn't plan to heed calls to get vaccinated.
"I might not take a drag off someone's cigarette now. And I'll run from people who don't cover their mouths when they cough," he said. But otherwise, he believes, "I'm safe."
“Hippocrates was a visionary who figured out the most important ways we can stay healthy, all of which have been proved by modern science,” says David Katz, MD, founding director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center and author of the book Disease Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well. Here are some of my favorite weight and wellness rules that have stood the test of time.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
The illegal party drug
ketamine is an "exciting" and "dramatic" new treatment for depression,
say doctors who have conducted the first trial in the UK.
Some patients who have faced incurable depression for decades
have had symptoms disappear within hours of taking low doses of the
drug.The small trial on 28 people, reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, shows the benefits can last months.
.jpg)
Aerobic exercise in your 20s may protect the brain in middle age, according to a US study.
Activities that maintain cardio fitness - such as running,
swimming and cycling - led to better thinking skills and memory 20 years
on.Scientists say the research, reported in Neurology, adds to evidence the brain benefits from good heart health.
Cardio fitness is a measure of how well the body absorbs oxygen during exercise and transports it to the muscles.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, tested almost 3,000 healthy people with an average age of 25.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
It's the first migraine-prevention drug approved for adolescents, the FDA said in a news release. Topamax was first sanctioned in 1996 to prevent seizures, and was approved to prevent migraines in adults in 2004.
Monday, 31 March 2014
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.
Saturday, 29 March 2014
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.
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.
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.
Monday, 24 March 2014
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).
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.
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.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
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.
Friday, 14 March 2014
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."
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
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."
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."
from
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
