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Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6962438/Every-hour-per-day-watching-TV-increases-risk-of-heart-disease-death-by-a-fifth.htmlBy Andrew HoughThe risk of dying from heart disease increases by almost a fifth from each hour of a day spent watching television, a study has suggested.
In the UK, the average person watches television for three hours a day. Photo: GETTYEvery type of sedentary behaviour, such as driving and sitting at a computer, also poses significant health risks, Australian researchers concluded.
They found that people who spent more than four hours a day sitting in front of the TV were 80 per cent more likely to die from a cardiovascular related disease than those who watched less than two hours.
Tracking the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults over the past seven years, researchers also found they were also moderately more at risk of dying from cancer.
In the UK, the average person watches television for three hours a day.
The study is published in this month's edition of the medical journal Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association,
The study’s lead author Prof David Dunstan, from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, in Victoria, said: "For many people, on a daily basis they simply shift from one chair to another - from the chair in the car to the chair in the office to the chair in front of the television.
"Even if someone has a healthy body weight, sitting for long periods of time still has an unhealthy influence on their body sugar and blood fats."
Researchers measured participants' cholesterol and blood sugar levels - key indicators of health - and how many hours they spent watching TV.
During the six year follow up 87 people dies from cardiovascular related disease and 125 died from cancer.
The association held regardless of other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure.
Researchers advised people should avoid sitting for long periods of time to lower their risk of developing diseases.
Link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Keep-infection-away-to-enjoy-winter/articleshow/5425636.cmsJAIPUR: The recent cold wave has resulted in a rise in respiratory ailments. Cases of cold and throat infection have been common. Nearly half the new cases at city hospitals are of respiratory infection. The incidence of bronchitis and pneumonia has increased, especially among children.
Medicos indicate a rise in seasonal diseases. "Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and rhino virus are common these days as the other common diseases like typhoid show decline due to cold weather," says Dr Vivek Sharma.
RSV is one of the most common cause of bronchitis found in nearly 10% of the adult patients reporting at various hospitals. Bronchitis is found in children less than six years of age.
Exposure to cold wind and frequent fluctuation in ambience temperature increase the probability of infection. Fog and cold winds make an unhealthy environment for the asthma patients. The incidence of other cold-related diseases has also increased.
"The frequency of asthma attack increases in such weather. These patients should take all precautions and avoid food that could cause throat infection," adds Dr Sharma.
BOX
Precautions To Be Taken
1) Reducing visits to public area helps lower chances of infection
2) A balanced diet and proper sleep is essential for a cold patient
3) Avoid direct exposure to cold wind, especially while riding on two-wheelers
4) Avoid frequent fluctuation from warm room temperature to cold outside
5) Swine flu might be on the decline, but doctors suggest that people should maintain high hygiene standards to avoid infections and if any infection is detected, the patient should rest isolated
Link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/health-fitness/health/Coffee-linked-to-reduced-liver-fibrosis-/articleshow/5415957.cmsPatients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) who drink more than 2.25 cups of regular coffee daily have milder liver fibrosis, a new study has found. Researchers from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) found that the daily amount of caffeine intake (308 mg) had therapeutic effect on patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV).
The study has been published in the January 2010 issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
Liver fibrosis or scaring of the liver is the second stage of liver disease and characterized by a degradation of liver function due to accumulated connective tissue.
"From data collected to date it remains unclear whether coffee itself, or caffeine provides the beneficial effect," said Apurva Modi, M.D. and lead author of the current study that focuses on caffeine intake and its impact on liver fibrosis.
From January 2006 to November 2008 all patients evaluated in the Liver Disease Branch of the National Institutes of Health were asked to complete a questionnaire to determine caffeine consumption. Questions were asked pertaining to all sources of caffeine including regular and diet soft drinks; regular and decaffeinated coffee; black, green, Chinese and herbal teas; cocoa and hot chocolate; caffeine-fortified drinks; chocolate candy; caffeine pills; and medications with caffeine. Participants were asked about their frequency of caffeine consumption, which was quantified as never; 1-3 times per month; 1, 2-4, or 5-6 times per week; 1, 2-3, 4-5, and 6 or more times per day.
"Our data suggest that a beneficial effect requires caffeine consumption above a threshold of approximately 2 coffee-cup equivalents daily," noted Dr. Modi. The protective effects of consuming more than 308 mg of caffeine daily persisted after controlling for age, sex, race, liver disease, BMI and alcohol intake for all study participants.
Researchers further evaluated caffeine and coffee separately to determine the individual effect of each on fibrosis. Results showed that consumption of caffeinated soda, green or black tea was not associated with reduced liver fibrosis. However, a significant protective effect could have been missed due to small numbers, as 71pc of total caffeine consumed came from coffee. Caffeinated coffee had the most pronounced effect on reduced liver fibrosis.
Link:http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Nutrition/Vitamins/cocktail_of_nutrients_helps_alzheimer_s_patients_0801100653.htmlBy David LiuThe FDA which believe only FDA-approved medications can be use to prevent or treat any disease may not agree on this, but a study in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia proved that cheap dietary supplements may be as effective as drugs in treating Alzheimer's disease.
The study led by MIT researchers demonstrated that a nutrition beverage of three key ingredients found in human milk, B vitamins, phospholipids and antioxidants improved verbal memory in patients with early-stage Alzheimer's.
The early symptoms patients with Alzheimer's disease suffer include a major loss of the brain connections called synapses required for memory and information processing. The study showed that the nutrients promoted growth of synapses and improved verbal memory particularly in patients with early forms of the disease.
Richard Wurtman and colleagues conducted a trial of 225 Alzheimer's patients to examine the therapeutic effect of a cocktail of choline, uridine, one omega-3 fatty acid called Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) found in breast milk plus other nutrients.
In the 12-week study, some patients were given a nutrient drink called Souvenaid and others a placebo. More patients on the nutritional beverage improved their performance on the verbal memory test than those given the placebo, 40 percent versus 24 percent, the researchers found.
Additionally, Wurtman found patients with the mildest cases of Alzheimer's were the ones who benefited most from the mixed drink.
The study was sponsored by the French company Danone. Together with the company, MIT has patented the findings and the company has the exclusive right to the patent.
Carlezon WA and colleagues from Harvard medical School reported in Feb 2005 in the Biological Psychiatry that uridine and omega-3 fatty acids each has antidepressant-like effects in rats and work as well as antidepressant medications such as Prozac and other SSRIs.
Uridine is found high in many foods including tomatoes, brewer's yeast, and beer.
Choline, a vitamin, plays many roles in human physiology including structural integrity of cell membranes, cell signaling, nerve impulse transmission, lipid fat transport and metabolism among other things, according to Linus Pauling Institute.
This vitamin has been known to have preventative and therapeutic effects against a series of diseases including heart disease, cancer, cognitive functioning or memory loss and dementia like Alzheimer's disease.
However, the cocktail of nutrients did not seem to improve scores in patients with early forms of Alzheimer's disease on the ADAS-cog test, which determines a person's orientation and movement/spatial memory as well as cognition.
There is no Alzheimer’s cure and the disease affects millions of elderly people in the United States. Some Alzheimer’s medications may help patients though. The disease eventually disables the patients and leads to death.
Link:http://www.themedguru.com/20100109/newsfeature/extra-birth-weight-reduces-tb-risk-86131746.htmlby Kangna Agarwal
If your new born weighs slightly more, take it as a good sign rather. A new research suggests that additional weight at the time of birth lowers the risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) in the later years.
It is anticipated that the findings will have important implications as the disease infects nearly one-third population in the world.
The study may also help understand the mechanisms of the origin and development of the disease better.
TB is a common infectious disease which spreads through air, when the infected people cough, sneeze or spit. The illness usually affects the lungs but it could also affect other body parts.
The symptoms include chronic cough with blood-tinged mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.
Extra pounds at birth reduce TB risk
To determine how much protection extra birth weight could add against contracting tuberculosis later on, researchers at the University of Michigan examined identical twins.
It was found that every additional 1.1 pounds (500 grams) of birth weight reduced the risk of developing the illness by 46 percent among the identical twins in their later life.
The researchers also stated that the association between birth weight and developing tuberculosis is stronger in males than in females.
For every 1.1 pounds of weight, the boys were 87 percent less likely to develop the illness, whereas the proportion was merely 16 percent for the girls.
Eduardo Villamor, study author and associate professor at the U-M School of Public Health said, "Prenatal exposure to environmental insults, including maternal malnutrition, could program what happens later on in terms of our immune responses to infection, possibly through programming of the immune system ... . This study is an example of that."
More research required
According to experts, newborns with low birth weight are more prone to catch infections and develop diseases. Such infants are also at an elevated risk of developing vision and hearing loss, cognitive problems etc.
This study indirectly indicates that infants with low birth weight are at a high risk of developing TB.
The researchers, however, cautioned that no conclusion should be drawn from the findings of the study. More research is needed to find a clear association between prenatal growth and prevention of tuberculosis.
"It's too early to say if insufficient prenatal growth causes clinical tuberculosis, but the findings suggest that may be the case," Villamor said.
The study, "Evidence for an effect of fetal growth on the risk of tuberculosis," will appear in the February edition of the Journal Infectious Disease.
Link:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34811171/ns/health-more_health_news/By Jeanna BrynerStudy: Evolutionary factors may play role in uptick of autism, some cancersWhile natural selection is best known for weeding out the weak, it may also be partly responsible for the apparent rise of some disorders, such as autism, autoimmune diseases and reproductive cancers, according to researchers.
Since evolutionary factors play a role in disease, the two fields should have some crossover, say a group of scientists who have studied various aspects of the link between evolution and medicine.
"This work points out linkages within the plethora of new information in human genetics and the implications for human biology and public health, and also illustrates how one could teach these perspectives in medical and premedical curricula," said researcher Peter Ellison, an anthropologist at Harvard University.
The results, they say, could save lives.
"Evolutionary medicine got going in the '80s and early '90s, but it has been energized in the last decade by the discovery that it really makes a difference," researcher Stephen Stearns of Yale University told LiveScience. "In the last 10 years we have found out that taking an evolutionary perspective really helps to reduce suffering and to reduce the risk of death."
Evolution and disease
Stearns and a long list of scientists presented their findings on this evolution-medicine link at the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium in the spring of 2009. The results, announced publicly today, are now published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For example, previous work in evolutionary medicine has helped to explain some reasons why disease is so prevalent and difficult to prevent: Natural selection favors reproduction over health; biology evolves more slowly than culture; and pathogens evolve more quickly than humans.
They describe these and other connections between evolution and sickness along with possible explanations. Here are the highlights:
Humans evolved alongside beneficial bacteria and parasitic worms, and so our ancestors built up immunity to such bugs. But nowadays with increased hygiene, we've eliminated the bacteria and worms. The result: Since our immune systems aren’t used to these good bugs, our bodies fight them as foreigners. That can result in allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases, such as Graves' disease in which a person has an overactive thyroid.
Humans have higher rates of cancer than other species. One reason: We aren't adapted to the new risk factors of modern society, including tobacco, alcohol, a high-fat diet and contraceptives, researchers have found.
Certain adaptations that once benefited us might be helping several ailments to persist in spite of, or perhaps because of, advancements in modern culture and medicine, according to researchers.
With respect to evolution and culture, here's a case in point: Harmful mutations are often recessive, and so both parents must pass on the gene in order for the disease to show up in offspring. And while natural selection has supported outbreeding (breeding with people other than close relatives), culture hasn't always followed suit. Across the globe, about 10 percent of spouses are second cousins or closer, the researchers say, with the prevalence ranging from 1 percent to 50 percent in different cultures.
The inbreeding can cause recessive genes that should only have a small effect on mortality to have a much larger impact.
Autism and evolution
Autism and schizophrenia also have ties with evolutionary science. Essentially, they boil down to a battle of the sexes.
Past studies beginning in the 1960s have built on one another to suggest mom and dad are in evolutionary conflict over investment of resources to their offspring. A mother knows all of her babies are hers and so should give evenly to all. But fathers only want to invest in their biological kids (not offspring from another male) and so a father’s genes will pressure mom to skew investment toward those offspring.
Studies in genetically engineered mice have shown that when certain paternal genes get expressed, the baby mice are 10 percent heavier than normal.
The results should translate to humans and carry into early childhood, affecting children’s behaviors, the researchers suggest.
For instance, when the paternal form of a gene on chromosome 15 gets expressed, and not the mother's, the resulting offspring will be more demanding, sleep poorly, want to suckle frequently and have a 40 percent to 80 percent chance of having autism as an adult. (Humans normally have 46 chromosomes in each cell.) While scientists think genes play a role in developing autism, the complex causes of this disease are still unknown.
Similar findings have shown psychoses such as schizophrenia can develop when the maternal form of certain genes gets expressed.
Educating physicians on evolution
Stearns suggests evolutionary perspectives should be integrated into curricula as early as undergraduate school for students planning to attend medical school. The knowledge, Stearns said, would complement traditional studies undertaken in medical school.
We're trying to design ways to educate physicians who will have a broader perspective and not think of the human body as a perfectly designed machine," Ellison said. "Our biology is the result of many evolutionary trade-offs, and understanding these histories and conflicts can really help the physician understand why we get sick and what we might do to stay healthy."
The take-home message: "Evolution and medicine really do have things to say to each other, and some of these insights actually reduce suffering and save lives," Stearns said.
Link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Nearly-96-affected-by-peripheral-vascular-diseases-are-diabetics/articleshow/5407951.cmsNAGPUR: Almost 96% of people suffering peripheral vascular diseases (medical terminology for diseases of the arteries and veins in hands or legs), or PVD for short, are diabetes patients, warned doctors at an awareness programme on Sunday. If not treated in time, these diseases could lead to partial or even total amputation of one's limbs.
At the programme organised by the Academy of Medical Sciences, experts on PVD spoke about various facets of these diseases, and how they can be treated. In an interaction with TOI after the function, Dr Rajesh Mundhada, one of the speakers on the occasion, said diabetes is one of the chief causes of these ailments.
"As it is, diabetes is known as the mother of all ailments. It causes arteries and veins to be clogged by cholesterol, making them narrower and decreasing the flow of blood to the limbs. Therefore, when the patient walks for just 100 to 200 metres, he is overcome with cramping pain in the legs, which subsides when he rests. All such peoples suffer from PVD," he explained.
"People need to understand that angioplasty and stenting is not done in just the heart. It can be performed as a remedy for these ailments too. Recently, a new treatment, by the name of atherectomy, has come up. Here, a machine is sent through the blood vessels; it shaves them from the inside, clearing the path for more blood to flow," he said.
