Red wine not good for older men

9:22 PM

•

health news

A natural antioxidant compound found in red grapes and other plants - called resveratrol - blocks many cardiovascular benefits of exercise in older men, new research has suggested.

Resveratrol has received widespread attention as a possible anti-aging compound and is now widely available as a dietary supplement; much has been made of its role in explaining the cardiovascular health benefits of red wine, and other foods.

But now, new research at The University of Copenhagen surprisingly suggests that eating a diet rich in antioxidants may actually counteract many of the health benefits of exercise, including reduced blood pressure and cholesterol.

In contrast to earlier studies in animals in which resveratrol improved the cardiovascular benefits of exercise, this study in humans has provided surprising and strong evidence that in older men, resveratrol has the opposite effect.

Lasse Gliemann, a PhD student who worked on the study at The University of Copenhagen, said that they studied 27 healthy, physically inactive men around 65 years old for 8 weeks.

He said that during the 8 weeks all of the men performed high-intensity exercise training and half of the group received 250 mg of resveratrol daily, whereas the other group received a placebo pill.

The study design was double-blinded, thus neither the subjects nor the investigators knew which participant that received either resveratrol or placebo.

He asserted that they found that exercise training was highly effective in improving cardiovascular health parameters, but resveratrol supplementation attenuated the positive effects of training on several parameters including blood pressure, plasma lipid concentrations and maximal oxygen uptake.

Ylva Hellsten, the leader of the project, said that they were surprised to find that resveratrol supplementation in aged men blunted the positive effects of exercise training on cardiovascular health parameters, in part because our results contradict findings in animal studies.

The research has been in The Journal of Physiology.

READ MORE

Study : One third diagnosed with throat cancer are infected with HPV virus

10:18 PM

•

health news

BBC : One third of people diagnosed with throat cancer are infected with a form of the HPV virus, a study suggests.

HPV (human papillomavirus) is the major cause of cervical cancer, and the virus is known to spread through genital or oral contact.

Actor Michael Douglas is reported to have spoken about the link after his own diagnosis with throat cancer.

Experts said this study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, which quantifies the link, showed "striking" results.

There are more than 100 types of HPV. Most people will be infected with HPV at some point, but in most the immune system will offer protection.

There are two HPV strains which are most likely to cause cancer - HPV-16 and HPV-18.

HPV-16 is thought to be responsible for around 60% of cervical cancers, 80% of cancers in the anus and 60% of oral cancers.

Around 1,500 people are diagnosed with throat cancers each year in the UK, with around 470 people dying from the disease.

Survival benefit
This study looked at HPV's link with cancer of the back of the throat - oropharyngeal cancer.

It looked at blood test results collected from people who took part in a huge prospective study into lifestyle and cancer, who were all healthy at the start.

Everyone gives a blood sample when they join the study, and in this case the researchers were able to check for the presence of antibodies to one of HPV's key proteins - E6.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

Condoms won't stop infections completely."”

E6 knocks out part of cells' protection system, which should prevent cancer developing.

Having the antibodies means HPV has already overcome that defence and caused cancerous changes in cells.

The researchers compared blood test results - some more than 10 years old - for 135 people who went on to develop throat cancer and for 1,599 cancer-free people.

The University of Oxford team found 35% of those with throat cancer had the antibodies, compared with fewer than 1% of those who were cancer-free.

However, these patients were more likely to survive throat cancer than people whose disease had other causes, such as alcohol or tobacco use.

The study found 84% of people with the antibodies were still alive five years after diagnosis, compared with 58% of those without.

Broader effect?
Dr Ruth Travis, a Cancer Research UK scientist at Oxford who worked on the study, said: "These striking results provide some evidence that HPV-16 infection may be a significant cause of oropharyngeal cancer."

Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK's director of health information, said: "HPV is an extremely common virus.

"Practising safer sex may reduce the risk of getting or passing on HPV, but condoms won't stop infections completely."

She added: "If the HPV vaccine can also protect against oral HPV infections and cancers, then it could have a broader potential protective effect, but we don't have enough research yet to tell us. "

READ MORE

Evidence-based recommendations for Alzheimer's disease

10:11 PM

•

health news

BOSTON — No one yet knows how many cases of Alzheimer's can be prevented by healthier living. But without treatments to change the course of the disease, researchers believe prevention may be key to avoiding its memory and quality of life challenges.

Taking preventive measures against dementia involves common sense, healthy activities — exercising regularly, eating well, sleeping enough — as well as keeping your brain active and challenged.

Precise prescriptions aren't possible yet, but new evidence for prevention came out this week at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Boston, said Steven Arnold, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Memory Center.

"We're understanding the course of the development of Alzheimer's disease much better now," he said, adding that dementia probably takes decades to develop.

Genetics drives vulnerability to Alzheimer's, and there are an unlucky few who carry a single gene mutation that dooms them to the disease. For everyone else, the way they live earlier in life can help determine how agile their brain remains, and for how long.

"I'm 55 years old," Arnold said. "What I do now is going to determine whether I am demented in my old age or not."

STORY: Memory decline may be earliest sign of dementia

Even in early childhood, we may be able to lay the groundwork for a healthy brain decades later.

Studies consistently find that people with more education are less likely to develop Alzheimer's. "Sometimes I think the best way to prevent Alzheimer's is fully fund early childhood education," said Arnold, a psychiatrist and neurologist.

Other research has linked binge-drinking early in life to an increased risk of Alzheimer's.

Part of our understanding of Alzheimer's, Arnold said, is a growing recognition that the disease is closely related to other conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. Keep those at bay through a healthy lifestyle, and you may be able to reduce your risk of dementia, he said.

Arnold said he now manages his middle-aged patients' cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity and sugar levels much more aggressively than he used to, to make sure that their blood vessels are feeding enough blood to their brain and that they avoid diabetes, which can make brain cells more vulnerable to damage.

"If you can manage these well in your 50s, you can probably reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's, some people estimate by as much as 50%," he said. "Or at least delay the onset of Alzheimer's by a couple of years" — pushing memory loss into your 80s or beyond.

Even after symptoms of dementia have begun, evidence suggests that regular aerobic exercise can improve quality of life, said Heather Snyder, director of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimer's Association. "It's beneficial whenever you start."

Here are some specific, evidence-based recommendations from Snyder, Arnold and others:

Exercise:

Aerobic activity three times a week for 40 minutes is strongly supported by research. That's not taking a stroll looking at shop windows, but actually breaking a sweat and elevating your heart rate.

Sleep:

The symptoms of sleep disorders can be similar to dementia, so it's important to identify and address sleep problems, said Alvaro Pascual-Leone, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Medications, late-night exercise and alcohol can also interfere with sleep quality and length.

Typically, adults should get between seven and nine hours of sleep daily, he said.

Nutrition:

Snyder, Arnold and Pascual-Leone all recommend a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet, rich in plant-based foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains, with healthy fats such as olive oil instead of butter, and a minimal amount of processed foods and sweets.

Keeping mentally active:

Crossword puzzles aren't enough to challenge your brain, Pascual-Leone said, if you're already a regular puzzle doer. Instead, pick up new skills like learning to dance or paint or do math problems — something that's challenging and a little outside your comfort zone, he said.

"It's not about coasting into old age with the activities you like to do, but encountering the kinds of challenges our kids go through" when they study subjects as varied as math, history and foreign language, Pascual-Leone said.

Online brain-training programs, like Lumosity by Lumos Labs and BrainHQ from Posit Science, can be helpful if done frequently enough, said Pascual-Leone who earlier this month opened a brain fitness center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston to engage patients in brain training and other lifestyle improvements.

Limiting stress:

Some stress is clearly good for the brain, but too much can be toxic. There's growing evidence that things like mindfulness meditation and yoga are good for the brain, Arnold said.

usatoday.com

READ MORE

Brain ultrasound to treat depression, anxiety

2:42 PM

•

science news

Sending ultrasound waves to specific areas of the brain can alter patients' moods, a new study has found.

The discovery by University of Arizona researchers has led them conduct further investigations with the hope that this technique could one day be used to treat conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Dr. Stuart Hameroff, professor emeritus of the UA's departments of anesthesiology and psychology and director of the UA's Center for Consciousness Studies, is lead author on the first clinical study of brain ultrasound.

Hameroff became interested in applying ultrasound to the human brain when he read about a study by colleague Jamie Tyler at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, who found physiological and behavioral effects in animals of ultrasound applied to the scalp, with the waves passing through the skull.

Hameroff knew that ultrasound vibrates in megahertz frequencies at about 10 million vibrations per second, and that microtubules, protein structures inside brain neurons linked to mood and consciousness, also resonate in megahertz frequencies. Hameroff proposed testing ultrasound treatment for mood on human brains.

"I said to my anesthesiology colleagues, 'we should try this on chronic pain patient volunteers'," he said.

His colleagues respectfully suggested he try it on himself, first. Hameroff acquiesced.

After 15 seconds with an ultrasound transducer, a standard ultrasound imaging device, placed against his head, Hameroff felt no effect.

"I put it down and said, 'well, that's not going to work.' And then about a minute later I started to feel like I'd had a martini," he said.

His mood was elevated for the next hour or two, Hameroff said.

Aware that his experience could be a placebo effect, an imagined effect derived from his expectation to feel a change, Hameroff set out to properly test the treatment with a clinical trial.

With research committee and hospital approval, and patient informed consent, Hameroff and his colleagues applied transcranial ultrasound to 31 chronic pain patients at The University of Arizona Medical Center-South Campus, in a double blind study in which neither doctor nor subject knew if the ultrasound machine had been switched on or off.

Patients reported improvements in mood for up to 40 minutes following treatment with brain ultrasound, compared with no difference in mood when the machine was switched off.

The researchers confirmed the patients' subjective reports of increases in positive mood with a Visual Analog Mood Scale, or VAMS, a standardized objective mood scale often used in psychological studies.

The discovery may open the door to a possible range of new applications of ultrasound in medicine.

The study is published in the journal Brain Stimulation.

READ MORE

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) new health risk

9:18 AM

•

Live News

With the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS - CoV) killing more than 40 people across the globe, especially in Saudi Arabia, and the threat of the swine flu-like virus spreading in the air looming large, doctors in the city have sounded alarm bells for those returning from Gulf countries. 

However, doctors said it does not seem like a major health risk for Indians at the moment.

“In July there are heavy rains across the country. Most air-borne viruses get washed away in the heavy rain. However, persons with travel history to Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Middle East countries should take extreme precautions,” said Dr Hemant Thacker, physician at Breach Candy Hospital.

The Union health ministry had issued a circular (received by the Directorate of Health Services in Maharashtra on July 11) stating that MERS virus has become a global threat and patients with travel history to the Middle East, China and Taiwan who show signs of respiratory discomfort should be reported and kept under surveillance. The state has further disseminated the circular to strengthen surveillance to civic bodies in every district, including Mumbai. 

“We have not seen any cases of MERS in the country. In fact, the swine flu virus has also not been reported this year in Mumbai. But, any traveler who has been to Saudi Arabia and the neighbouring countries or the Far East has been experiencing prolonged periods of cough or cold needs to be reported to the civic body by the treating physician. We have been asked to isolate such patients and send their samples to National Institute of Virology in Pune for tests,” said Dr Mangala Gomara, BMC epidemiologist. 

Doctors said influenza virus strains undergo deadly mutations in as less as every six months and the stronger strains do not respond to older anti-virus treatments. 

“Any prolonged cough or cold that is not responding to antibiotic treatment till four days needs to be reported to a physician. There is no specific treatment. A patient may improve with supportive therapy or the health may worsen and secondary conditions like pneumonia and bacterial infections may develop. The patient may also go on ventilator support and require intensive care,” said Dr Chetan Velani, a Ghatkopar-based physician. 

“We are yet to receive the circular from the BMC. If there is anything suspicious reported we will send the phlegm samples from trachea after conducting test to NIV in Pune.”

What is MERS?
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

The illness is caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV.

People having MERS-CoV infection develop severe acute respiratory illness – fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

This virus spreads from infected people to others through close contact.

READ MORE

Inadequate sleep during pregnancy can lead to complications

6:01 PM

•

study

Los Angeles: Scientists have shown that inadequate sleep during pregnancy can lead to complications and hinder normal immune processes, says a study.

Women with depression are more likely than non-depressed women to suffer from disturbed sleep and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine conducted the research and the study was published in the journal "Psychosomatic Medicine".

"Our results highlight the importance of identifying sleep problems in early pregnancy, especially in women experiencing depression, since sleep is a modifiable behaviour," said Michele Okun, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Pitt`s School of Medicine and lead author of the report. "The earlier that sleep problems are identified, the sooner physicians can work with pregnant women to implement solutions."

There is a dynamic relationship between sleep and immunity, and this study is the first to examine this relationship during pregnancy as opposed to postpartum," added Dr. Okun.

IANS 

READ MORE

Androgen deprivation therapy risk of developing kidney problems

8:50 PM

•

study

The treatment, known as androgen deprivation therapy, lowers the risk of death among men with advanced, aggressive prostate cancer.

Coloured scanning electron micrograph of two prostate cancer cells in the final stage of cell division. Photograph: VVG/Science photo library

However, researchers said it's increasingly being used to treat possible recurrences among men with less advanced disease - for whom the benefits are less clear, and the risks more worrisome.

"Our study does raise the concern that perhaps we should be more careful in prescribing androgen deprivation therapy in patients who do not have the clear indication for it," said Laurent Azoulay, who worked on the research at McGill University in Montreal.

"It's all about the balance, finding the right population for which the benefits clearly outweigh the risks," he told Reuters Health.

Hormone-targeted treatment has been linked to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.

For their study, Azoulay and his colleagues used UK data on 10,250 men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1997 and 2008. The men were followed for an average of just over four years after their diagnosis.

During that time, 232 of them developed an acute kidney injury - a rapid drop in kidney function. The researchers compared those men to 2,721others from the study who were the same age and were not diagnosed with kidney problems.

In total, just over half of the men were taking androgen deprivation therapy.

Azoulay and his colleagues found that men taking hormone-targeted therapy were between two and three times more likely to have their kidneys stop working, once their other health conditions and medicines were taken into account.

Unlike current use, past use of androgen deprivation therapy was not tied to a higher risk of kidney injury, the study team wrote Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Azoulay said it's possible that changes in testosterone and estrogen levels among men on hormonal therapy might affect kidney health and how the kidneys repair themselves after an injury.

If the finding is replicated in other studies, he said doctors should consider checking men's kidney function before prescribing androgen deprivation therapy.

Dr. Vahakn Shahinian, who has studied risks of hormone treatment at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, called the findings "a bit of a surprise."

He told Reuters Health that it's still not clear if a link between androgen deprivation therapy and kidney injury makes sense biologically.

"It's interesting, but it certainly would require some kind of further validation… before I'd be willing to believe that this was a real effect," said Shahinian, who wasn't involved in the new study.

Still, he agreed with Azoulay that doctors should be cautious about prescribing hormone-targeted therapy.

"Where there's a clear-cut benefit, people should continue to use it and not worry about this," Shahinian said.

However, he added, "it's in those settings where there's an uncertainty about the benefits that you have to be more worried about the side effects. And I think this adds to that list."

He said that if men's doctors prescribe androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer, they should ask how much evidence there is for its use in their particular situation.

"They should find out if it's an area where there's been a clear-cut established benefit or if it's an area where there's a gray zone," Shahinian said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/MvXYT6 Journal of the American Medical Association, online July 16, 2013.

READ MORE

Fat moms-to-be gives birth to bigger and fatter babies

5:22 PM

•

study

Moms-to-be who gain too much weight early into their pregnancy are nearly three times as likely to give birth to bigger and fatter babies, warns a University of Alberta researcher.

A study of 172 expectant mothers found that women who gained excessive weight during the first half of pregnancy gave birth to heavier and longer babies with more body fat than babies of women who either did not gain as much weight or put it on later in their pregnancy.

The results underscore the need to educate expectant mothers about the dangers of early weight gain during pregnancy and importance of healthy eating and exercise, said lead author Margie Davenport, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation.

"Expectant mothers and health professionals need to be aware of pregnancy weight-gain guidelines and follow them to build a foundation for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby," said Davenport.




The study

The study included data from 172 healthy, expectant mothers living in London, Ontario, between 1995 and 2011. The women were non-smokers with a body mass index of at least 18.5 when they were between 16 and 20 weeks pregnant. A BMI below 18.5 is considered too thin; anything above 25 is considered overweight.

All women in the study were encouraged to follow a basic exercise program of three to four aerobic workouts a week. They also had access to eating guidelines to promote healthy weight gain during pregnancy.

Maternal weight gain was scored against the 2009 Institute for Medicine guidelines for pregnancy, comparing data with their pre-pregnancy BMI.

More than half of the study participants – 52% – gained excessive weight during their pregnancies; however, women who gained weight during the first half of their pregnancy were 2.7 times more likely to give birth to bigger, heavier babies. These babies also had excessive body fat, greater than 14%.

"Healthy eating and physical activity when pregnant have long-lasting benefits to mother and child," Davenport said. "Infants who are larger at birth tend to become larger children, and that creates a risk for developing into obese and overweight children and adults."

Eating for two

Sarah O'Hara knows the dangers of gaining too much weight too quickly, both as a new mom and a registered dietitian who specialises in obstetrics. One of the key challenges to ensuring expectant mothers eat properly is overcoming the old saying "eating for two", she said.

"For many mothers, eating for two is taken too literally. People feel like they've been given an allowance to eat whatever they want, and that can lead to weight gain," said O'Hara, a University of Alberta graduate.

During her own pregnancy she closely monitored her weight, stayed active and followed the Canada Food Guide, adding additional servings later in the pregnancy and eating extra dairy and protein, and limiting caffeine.

Staying active hasn't been a challenge for Carolyn Terry, who is seven months pregnant. A yoga instructor and University of Alberta graduate in kinesiology, Terry said expectant moms like her can maintain their physical activity levels, although some modification may be required.

"You have to work at your own level and listen to your body," she said.

EurekAlert

READ MORE

Why women in menopause experience hot flashes

11:18 PM

•

health news

Neuroscientists at the Wayne State University School of Medicine have provided the first novel insights into the neural origins of hot flashes in menopausal women in years.

The study may inform and eventually lead to new treatments for those who experience the sudden but temporary episodes of body warmth, flushing and sweating.

Why women in menopause experience hot flashes

“The idea of understanding brain responses during thermoregulatory events has spawned many studies where thermal stimuli were applied to the skin. But hot flashes are unique because they are internally generated, so studying them presents unique challenges,” Robert Freedman, the study’s principal investigator, said.

During the course of a single year, 20 healthy, symptomatic postmenopausal women ages 47 to 58 who reported six or more hot flashes a day were scanned at the School of Medicine’s Vaitkevicius Imaging Center, located in Detroit’s Harper University Hospital.

The researchers collected skin conductance levels to identify the onset of flashes while the women were being scanned. Skin conductance is an electrical measure of sweating. The women were connected to a simple circuit passing a very small current across their chests.

Changes in levels allowed researchers to identify a hot flash onset and analyze the concurrently acquired fMRI data to investigate the neural precedents and correlates of the event.

The researchers focused on regions like the brain stem because its sub regions, such as the medullary and dorsal raphe, are implicated in thermal regulation, while forebrain regions, such as the insula, have been implicated in the personal perception of how someone feels.

They showed that activity in some brain areas, such as the brain stem, begins to rise before the actual onset of the hot flash.

“Frankly, evidence of fMRI-measured rise in the activity of the brain stem even before women experience a hot flash is a stunning result. When this finding is considered along with the fact that activity in the insula only rises after the experience of the hot flash, we gain some insight on the complexity of brain mechanisms that mediate basic regulatory functions,” study collaborator, Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, said.

These results point to the plausible origins of hot flashes in specific brain regions. The researchers believe it is the first such demonstration in academic literature.

The study is published in Cerebral Cortex, an Oxford University Press journal.

READ MORE

Study : Statin-takers are less likely to die from cancer

10:04 AM

•

study

Washington, July 14 (ANI): A new study suggests that Statin-takers are less likely to die from cancer.

Enzyme-inhibiting drugs known as statins have been widely used to lower cholesterol for decades.

Now, the new study suggests that they may offer other benefits beyond their typical use, CBS News reported.

Currently, statins are primarily prescribed to control cholesterol, and are typically prescribed if your total cholesterol is 240 or above, or if your LDL (a.k.a. "bad" cholesterol) is over 130. Some commonly prescribed statins are Crestor, Lipitor and Zocor.

The new study indicates that the drugs were safer than originally thought.

Researchers who looked at data from more than 250,000 people found that the drugs are safe.

Statins not only lower cholesterol, but research has shown that they can also decrease inflammation throughout the body, which leads many physicians to argue that statins can be used to treat problems associated with it.

Statins' heart benefits outweigh diabetes risk in pill-takers, study has shown.

In addition to lowering cholesterol, statins lower inflammation in the body, particularly in the blood vessels.

Inflammation is linked to a number of other diseases: Alzheimer's disease, a number of forms of cancer, strokes.

The drugs could also cause muscle pain or damage, nausea, headaches, or elevated liver enzymes.

The findings are published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. (ANI)

READ MORE

Cure for cancer

2:07 PM

•

science news

A small start-up company in the UK is talking about doing the impossible - a cure for cancer.

In all probability, Immunocore is the only company worldwide that has been able to develop a way to harness the power of the immune system's natural-born killer cells: the T-cells of the blood that kill invading pathogens, like viruses and bacteria, the Independent reported.

Cure for cancer

Bent Jakobsen, the Danish-born chief scientific officer of Immunocore who began to study T-cells 20 years ago while working at the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, said that immunotherapy is radically different.

He said that his method doesn't do away with other cancer treatments by any means, and only adds something to the arsenal, though it may have one unique feature - it could have the ability to actually cure cancer.

It is because of this potency, which attracted the attention of Genentech in California, owned by the Swiss giant Roche, and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, prompting them to signing deals with Immunocore, which could result in up to half a billion pounds being invested in new cancer treatments based on its unique T-cell therapy.

Today almost all the cancer treatments are burdened with the problem of sparing the healthy tissue from irreparable harm while ensuring that every cancer cell is killed, deactivated or removed.

According to Jakobsen, many companies have tried developing cancer cures based on antibodies, but have had limited success.

He said that a part of the problem was that antibodies are not designed to recognise cells and his company built a therapy around the second arm of the immune system, called cellular immunity, where T-cells seek out and destroy invading pathogens.

The company has devised a way to design small protein molecules, which it calls ImmTACs, which act as double-ended glue. At one end ImmTACs stick to cancer cells, strongly and very specifically, and leave healthy cells untouched and at the other end they stick to T-cells.

Jakobsen said that they use scaffold of the T-cell receptor to make something that is very good at recognising cancer even if it doesn't exist naturally.

He asserted that although T-cells are not keen to recognise cancer, they force them to do so. 

READ MORE

Smartphones are responsible for lowered fitness level

10:28 AM

•

health news

NEW DELHI: Smartphones have been amongst the biggest technological revolutions of the past decade, bringing emails, calls, internet and entertainment into your pockets. However, a recent study claims that smartphones are also responsible for lowered fitness level among users.

Smartphones are responsible for lowered fitness level

Faculty members of Education, Health and Human Services at Kent State University, Dr Jacob Barkley and Dr Andrew Lepp conducted a study to see how smartphone usage affects the exercise levels in college students. Unlike television, smartphones are small and portable, making it possible to use them while doing little physical activity.

The two researchers surveyed over 300 college students from the US Midwest regarding their smartphone usage and exercise level. Of the sample group, 49 were selected for fitness level and body composition tests. The results showed that those who spent large amounts of time on their phones - as high as 14 hours a day - were less fit than those who used the handsets under 90 minutes daily.

A student who participated in the study said, "Now that I have switched to the iPhone I would say it definitely decreases my physical activity because before I just had a Blackberry, so I didn't have much stuff on it. But now, if I'm bored, I can just download whatever I want."

This is said to be the first study that evaluates the relationship between smartphones and fitness level of users. It has appeared in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

READ MORE

Research-working in irregular shifts reduced fertility and shifts up miscarriage risk

12:19 PM

•

health news

Zee news: New Delhi: Women working in irregular shifts are likely to experience reduced fertility and greater menstrual disruption than those working in regular shifts, according to a new research.

working in irregular shifts reduced fertility and shifts up miscarriage risk

The team of researchers led by Dr Linden Stocker and Dr Ying Cheong, Southampton’s Princess Anne Hospital, assessed the impact of non-standard working schedules, which included night and mixed shifts, on the reproductive outcomes of 119,345 women.

The study found that women who worked only nights had 29 percent increased rate of miscarriage.

Women who worked in rotational shifts had an 80 percent higher rate of subfertility - meaning that they were unable to conceive within a year compared with those working regular hours.

Women working out of the typical 9 am to 6 pm schedule also had a 33% higher rate of menstrual disruption, the study found.

“We don’t fully understand why shift workers have an increased risk of certain diseases but obviously shift work impacts on your biological functioning, your psychological functioning and your social functioning”, Dr Stocker was quoted as saying by an English news website.

The researchers, however, have asked women not to jump to a conclusion and quit jobs as the study is still in the preliminary stage.

Working odd hours is often linked to sleep loss, decreased exercise and poorer diet thereby drastically disrupting a woman’s body clock.

In a previous study, researchers had claimed that women who had worked in nights shifts for 30 or more years are twice as likely to suffer from breast cancer.
 

READ MORE

Exercise - even in small doses - can alter your DNA - study

10:59 AM

•

health news

London: Exercise - even in small doses - can alter your DNA, slashing the risk of obesity and diabetes, according to a new study.

study -Exercise - even in small doses - can alter your DNA 

Swedish researchers have described for the first time what happens on an epigenetic level in fat cells when we undertake physical activity.

"Our study shows the positive effects of exercise, because the epigenetic pattern of genes that affect fat storage in the body changes," said Charlotte Ling, Associate Professor at Lund University Diabetes Centre.

The cells of the body contain DNA, which contains genes. We inherit our genes and they cannot be changed. The genes, however, have `methyl groups` attached which affect what is known as `gene expression` - whether the genes are activated or deactivated.

The methyl groups can be influenced in various ways, through exercise, diet and lifestyle, in a process known as `DNA methylation`.

This is epigenetics, a relatively new research field that in recent years has attracted more and more attention.

In the study, the researchers investigated what happened to the methyl groups in the fat cells of 23 slightly overweight, healthy men aged around 35 who had not previously engaged in any physical activity, when they regularly attended spinning and aerobics classes over a six-month period.

"They were supposed to attend three sessions a week, but they went on average 1.8 times," said Tina Ronn, Associate Researcher at Lund University.

Using technology that analyses 480 000 positions throughout the genome, they could see that epigenetic changes had taken place in 7,000 genes (an individual has 20-25 000 genes). They then went on to look specifically at the methylation in genes linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity.

"We found changes in those genes too, which suggests that altered DNA methylation as a result of physical activity could be one of the mechanisms of how these genes affect the risk of disease," said Ronn, adding that this has never before been studied in fat cells and that they now have a map of the DNA methylome in fat.
In the laboratory, the researchers were able to confirm the findings in vitro (studying cell cultures in test tubes) by deactivating certain genes and thus reducing their expression. This resulted in changes in fat storage in fat cells.

READ MORE