Pregnancy diet has lifelong effects for baby
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University of Nottingham researchers are targeting Europe’s biggest killer diseases - by focusing on the diet of unborn babies.
Poor nutrition in the womb and in the first months of infancy can condemn an individual to a life of poor health including higher risks of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Scientists believe a baby is ‘programmed’ for a lifetime of good or poor health in its first few months by the type and amount of nutrition they receive.
Learn the Signs and Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer
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More than 148,000 people will learn that they have colorectal cancer this year, making it the third leading cancer in both men and women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. While a family history of colon cancer, a diet high in fat and red meat, and a history of polyps in the colon, ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s Disease are major risk factors associated with colorectal cancer, the disease can be cured and often prevented if people are screened properly.
Colorectal cancer generally affects men and women equally and it becomes more prevalent as you age. It can be detected very early on if, beginning at age 50, you follow the proper screening schedules, including a yearly fecal occult blood test, where your stool is checked for blood; a sigmoidoscopy every five years to look inside the rectum and colon for polyps or other abnormal areas; a double-contrast barium enema every five years where X-rays are taken of your intestines; and a colonoscopy that looks inside the rectum and the entire colon for polyps every 10 years. If pre-cancerous polyps are detected, they can be removed to prevent colorectal cancer.
China says it’s caring for Henan AIDS villagers
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An official from a poverty-stricken area of China where some believe hundreds of thousands of villagers have HIV/AIDS said on Wednesday the number is less than 8,000 and they are doing well with government help.
International groups estimated that a botched blood-selling scheme in the 1990s had infected a million villagers with HIV in the impoverished central province of Henan, where the municipality of Zhu Madian was worst hit.
Song Xuantao, the Communist Party chief for Zhu Madian, told reporters that of a population of 8.3 million, only 7,800 HIV carriers had been found in a 2003 screening. All were being offered free treatment and were receiving allowances.
Coffee good or bad for you? It depends on your genes!
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According to a new study, depending on your genes, the caffeine in coffee is either good for you or bad for you.
The link between coffee intake and the risk of heart attacks is a controversial issue.
Scientists know that coffee, a major source of caffeine, is metabolized by the enzyme, cytochrome P450 1A2, and some individuals who have that particular gene are “rapid” caffeine metabolizers, whereas those with a different variation of the gene are “slow” caffeine metabolizers.
Steroid useful in HIV, dangerous to the healthy
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An oral anabolic steroid can restore the muscle and fat tissue often lost to HIV/AIDS, but the side effects highlight the dangers that steroids pose to healthy people who abuse them, according to researchers.
Their study of 262 HIV-positive men found that the steroid, called oxandrolone, helped treat the substantial weight loss, or wasting, that can arise as a complication of HIV/AIDS. After 12 weeks, men who took the oral drug everyday showed gains in both weight and muscle tissue.
The side effects of treatment included an increase in LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol, and a drop in “good” HDL cholesterol. Some men also developed signs of liver toxicity.
Most Americans still skip colon cancer screening
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Three out of four Americans aged 50 to 70 aren’t getting regular colon cancer screening, according to a survey sponsored by the maker of a new screening test for the disease.
Colon cancer is currently the second leading cancer killer in the United States, with 60,000 Americans expected to die from the disease this year.
The American Cancer Society recommends that everyone get a colonoscopy to test for colon cancer at age 50. But 26 percent of the 1,200 people surveyed said their doctor had never discussed colon cancer screening with them, and 24 percent said they didn’t get screened because they had no symptoms of the disease. Twenty-eight percent said they didn’t want to have a colonoscopy.
Pre-eclampsia kidney disease link
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Pre-eclampsia is a complication in pregnancy occurring in approximately eight percent of all pregnancies. It is characterised by elevated blood pressure and protein in the urine. It generally develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Medical doctor and researcher Bjoern Egil Vikse from the Department of Medicine at University of Bergen (UiB) is the first author of an upcoming article in the March issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Vikse explains that there were two reasons for becoming involved in this work. The first was that a collegaue had previously found a strong correlation between pre-eclampsia and a later incidence of cardiovascular disease. The second is that UiB researchers have a unique research tool. They have access to two large databases: one is a birth registry; the other is a kidney biopsy registry. This enables them to use large, well-documented data pools in their work.
Treat Diabetes - Lose Weight, Too!
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Diabetics’ use of Byetta (Amylin Pharmaceuticals) has boomed since the glucose-regulating prescription drug was introduced last year as the first in a class of medicines for type 2 diabetes called incretin mimetics. The big appeal? Many people not only have better regulation of their blood sugar, but they lose weight, too. UAB endocrinologist Fernando Ovalle, M.D., said, “Byetta slows down the gastrointestinal transit time and therefore makes people feel full after eating. The biggest side effect may be nausea, but it’s usually transient.”
The injectable drug also facilitates insulin production in response to a meal and helps suppress glucagon levels. UAB doctors participated in some of the clinical studies of the drug and use it in clinics.
Coffee Consumption Linked to Heart Attack for Persons With Gene Variation
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Individuals who have a genetic variation associated with slower caffeine metabolism appear to have an increased risk of non-fatal heart attack associated with higher amounts of coffee intake, according to a study in the March 8 issue of JAMA.
Studies examining the association between coffee consumption and risk of myocardial infarction (MI - heart attack) have been inconclusive. Coffee is a major source of caffeine, which is the most widely consumed stimulant in the world and has been implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, according to background information in the article. However, coffee contains a number of other chemicals that have variable effects on the cardiovascular system. It is not clear whether caffeine alone affects the risk of heart attack or whether other chemicals found in coffee may be responsible. Caffeine is metabolized primarily by the enzyme cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) in the liver.
Fine Particle Air Pollution Associated With Respiratory and Cardiovascular Diseases
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Being exposed to fine particle matter air pollution increases a person’s risk for hospital admission for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, according to a study in the March 8 issue of JAMA.
Numerous studies have shown associations of chronic exposure to airborne particles and increased health risks. Recent evidence on adverse effects of particulate air pollution on public health has motivated the development of more stringent standards for levels of particulate matter in outdoor air in the United States and in other countries, according to background information in the article. In 1997, the standard for airborne particulate matter was revised, maintaining the previous indicator of particulate matter of less than or equal to 10 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and creating a new indicator for fine particulate matter of less than or equal to 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5). Particles in this size range have a much greater probability of reaching the small airways and the alveoli (air sacs) of the lung than do larger particles. Evidence is limited on the health risks of this size range of particulate matter.
Scientists create new type of ‘bio-gel’
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Scientists at The University of Manchester have created a new type of ‘bio-gel’ which provides a pH neutral environment for culturing cells in 3D, as published in the journal Advanced Materials.
The gel is the first pH neutral material made from combinations of dipeptides (pairs of amino acids) to provide an environment in which cells can be cultured under physiological conditions.
Uniquely, the gel mimics the properties of cell scaffolds which naturally occur in the body and has potential applications for wound healing and tissue engineering.
Pakistani woman dies after forceps removed
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A Pakistani woman who had a pair of forceps removed from her abdomen after they were left there in an operation a year ago died from multiple complications on Tuesday, a hospital official said.
Shehzadi Shahidi Sultana, 30, had the forceps removed last month when it was discovered one year after she underwent a caesarean operation at a hospital in Jamshoro town, near the southern city of Hyderabad, to give birth to a baby girl.
As a result of the operation to remove the forceps on February 22nd at the same hospital, she developed an infection in her stomach and later died of heart failure from multiple complications, said medical superintendent Khalid Qureshi.
Genes play a key role in stress response
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Both nature and nurture - genetic makeup and the environment experienced through life - combine to influence health and well-being, Duke University Medical Center researchers and their colleagues have determined in four new studies.
The researchers showed that people’s genes play a key role in how they respond both biologically and psychologically to stress in their environment.
Maternal asthma tied to prematurity, lower weight
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Pregnant women with asthma are at heightened risk for delivering prematurely and of having a low-birthweight infant, according to a Canadian study discussed at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Miami Beach, Florida.
The researchers investigated ties between maternal asthma and prematurity and low birthweight using the 1995 Manitoba birth data consisting of all 13,980 children born that year in the province.
Small suicidal behavior risk linked to drug therapy
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During the early phase of antidepressant treatment of pediatric patients, there is a slight increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior, the results of several studies suggest.
However, the US Food and Drug Administration research team that conducted the study review does not discourage the use of antidepressant drugs for children. Instead, they advise “close monitoring of patients as a way of managing the risk of suicidality,” according to their report in the Archives of General Psychiatry for March.
Dr. Thomas Laughren and his colleagues in Rockville, Maryland, analyzed data from 24 studies ranging from 4 to 16 weeks in length that included 4,582 patients. The drugs tested were Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline), Paxil (paroxetine), Luvox (fluvoxamine), Celexa (citalopram), Wellbutrin (bupropion), Effexor (venlafaxine), Serzone (nefazodone) and Remeron (mirtazapine).
