Teens fooled by smart publicity of sports drinks?

A new survey involving more than 15,000 middle and high school students throughout Texas revealed that youngsters, who drank sugar-sweetened beverages, including sports drinks, were more likely to eat unhealthy foods and watch more TV than kids who didn't take such drinks.

Researchers believe smart marketing gimmicks of most sports drinks have led the teenagers to count them among healthy options.

Are sports drinks healthy options?
Researchers at Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin questioned teens about their eating habits and drink preferences, about their daily physical activity and the time they spend in front of the TV or computer each day.

About 20 percent of the teens in the study were obese.

Nalini Ranjit, PhD, and colleagues found that the kids choosing sweetened beverages over carbonated sodas also exercised harder and were more likely to eat healthy foods.

Health-conscious teens might steer clear of carbonated drinks for fear of excessive calories, but they tend to fall for flavored and sports beverages, wrongly considering them to be healthier choices.

Sports beverages not consistent with a healthy lifestyle“Adolescents and their parents need to be educated that consumption of large amounts of flavored and sports beverages is not consistent with a healthy lifestyle,” said lead researcher Nalini Ranjit.

Researchers believe smart marketing gimmicks of most sports drinks have led the teenagers to count them among healthy options.

“Adolescents who engage in an otherwise reasonably healthy lifestyle with lots of physical activity and a healthy diet still consume large amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages in the form of flavored and sports beverages,” Ranjit said. “We believe that this is due to successful marketing that has led consumers to see these beverages as healthy.”

Too many teens falling for sports drink?
Reporting online in the journal Pediatrics, the researchers noted that such drinks often contain a little percentage of real fruit juice, and high amounts of sugar contents.

Researchers said the findings were disturbing as the study revealed that 83 per cent of boys and 78 per cent of girls had one or more sugar-sweetened beverage the previous day; 28 per cent of them reported to be drinking three sports drinks a day.

The authors hope that this eye-opener will help to better inform policy makers as they work on public health campaigns.

Via : themoneytimes

Simplifying the Decision for a Prostate Screening

One of the most difficult decisions a man makes about prostate cancer happens long before the diagnosis. Should he get a regular blood test to screen for the disease?

Screening for early detection of cancer sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not an easy choice for men considering regular P.S.A. tests, which measure blood levels of prostate-specific antigen and are used to detect prostate cancer. Though use of the test is widespread, studies show that the screening saves few, if any, lives.

While the test helps find cellular changes in the prostate that meet the technical definition of cancer, they often are so slow-growing that if left alone they will never cause harm. But once cancer is detected, many men, frightened by the diagnosis, opt for aggressive surgical and radiation treatments that do far more damage than their cancers would have, leaving many impotent and incontinent.

As a result, major health groups don’t advise men one way or the other on regular P.S.A. screenings, saying it should be a choice discussed between a man and his doctor.

So how does a man decide whether to get P.S.A. screening or not? Finally, some new research offers simple, practical advice — at least for men 60 and older.

Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Lund University in Sweden have found that a man’s P.S.A. score at the age of 60 can strongly predict his lifetime risk of dying of prostate cancer, according to a new report in the British medical journal BMJ.

The findings also suggest that at least half of men who are now screened after age 60 don’t need to be, the study authors said.

The researchers followed 1,167 Swedish men from the time they were 60 years old until they died or reached 85. During that time, there were 43 cases of advanced prostate cancer and 35 deaths in the group. The researchers found that having had a P.S.A. score of 2.0 or higher at the age of 60 was highly predictive of developing advanced prostate cancer, or dying of the disease, within the next 25 years.

About one in four men will have a P.S.A. score of 2.0 or higher at the age of 60, and most of them will not develop prostate cancer, said the study’s lead author, Andrew Vickers, associate attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. But the score does put them in a higher-risk group of men who have more to gain from regular screening, he concluded.

The higher the score at age 60, the greater the long-term risk of dying from prostate cancer, Dr. Vickers and his colleagues found. Men with a score of 2.0 or higher at age 60 were 26 times more likely to eventually die of the disease than 60-year-old men with scores below 1.0.

Still, the absolute risks for men with elevated scores were lower than might be expected. A 60-year-old man with a P.S.A. score just over 2.0 had an individual risk of dying from prostate cancer during the next 25 years of about 6 percent, the researchers found. A 60-year-old man with a P.S.A. score of 5 had about a 17 percent risk.

“Most of those men are going to be absolutely fine,” said Dr. Vickers. “But they can be told they are at high risk and they need screening.”

Men with a P.S.A. score of 1.0 or lower at age 60 had a very low individual risk of death from prostate cancer over the next 25 years, the study found: just 0.2 percent.

“They can be reassured that even if they have prostate cancer or get it, it’s unlikely to become life-threatening,” said Dr. Vickers. “There’s a strong case that they should be exempted from screening.”

The advice is less clear for men with scores between 1.0 and 2.0 at the age of 60. They still have a very low individual risk of dying from prostate cancer, judging from the new data. The long-term risk of dying from prostate cancer ranged from about 1 percent to 3 percent for these men, and the decision to screen may depend on their personal views and family histories, Dr. Vickers said.

While the findings don’t answer all of the questions associated with P.S.A. screening, they should give peace of mind to sizable numbers of men who decide not to continue regular testing. The results also will reassure men who decide to continue with regular screenings that the benefits most likely outweigh the risks.

Dr. Eric A. Klein, chairman of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, said that he would like to see the findings of the new study independently confirmed, but that other studies also have suggested that the risk of cancer is low in men whose P.S.A. levels remain below 1.5 in their 50s and 60s.

“We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in screening and risk assessment that no longer relies on a simple P.S.A. cutoff to determine who should be biopsied,” Dr. Klein said.

P.S.A. screening is already not advised for those 75 and older, because the slow-moving nature of the disease means that a vast majority of men at that age are likely to die from something other than a newly detected prostate cancer. A major study last year confirmed that P.S.A. testing is not helpful for men with 10 years or less of life expectancy.

But the advice continues to be murky for younger men. In a large European study reported last year, 50- to 54-year-olds didn’t benefit from screening. But men ages 55 to 69 who had annual P.S.A. testing were slightly less likely to die from prostate cancer than those who weren’t screened.

The researchers who conducted the latest study also have investigated whether a man’s P.S.A. score at 50 can predict his long-term risk. In a 2008 report of 21,000 men published in the journal BMC Medicine, the researchers found that two-thirds of the advanced cancer cases that developed over 25 years were in men who had a P.S.A. score of 0.9 or higher at the age of 50.

Those findings can help younger men decide how intensely they want to screen for the disease. A man whose P.S.A. test shows him to be at low risk at age 50 may decide not to be retested again until the age of 60. A man with a higher score may want to do more frequent testing.

“We haven’t solved every single problem with screening,” Dr. Vickers noted. “We need to screen fewer people, screen the right people, and we don’t have to treat every cancer we catch.”

Via : well.blogs.nytimes.com

AstraZeneca’s Zibotentan Falls Short to Show Improvement in Prostate Cancer Experiments

An investigational prostate cancer tablet zibotentan from AstraZeneca has not succeeded in proving its mettle in a late-stage clinical experiment, hindering the Company's oncology duct.

The pill did not enhance survival rates in the study. Therefore, AstraZeneca has not filed the drug for regulator’s approval, at this point of time.

On Monday, a Spokesman said that the Company is working with the examiners over the reasons behind the failure, who are engaged in other studies of the drug.

Zibotentan’s unsuccessfulness to boost survival rates in the Phase III study is not the first for AstraZeneca. Prior this year, Company’s recentin for colon cancer failed to show its worth.

Similarly, in 2009, vandetanib for lung cancer was unsuccessful in showing overall improvement. However, Vandetanib seems to benefit a potentially minor market - thyroid cancer.

Zibotentan, which is supposed to be taken once in a day, is being examined in over 3,000 men who are suffering from prostate cancer.

It is said that two other studies investigating the drug in diverse locales are in progress. One of the studies has hired patients and it is anticipated that it will declare the findings in the latter half of the year 2011.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca’s Spokesman said, "We remain committed to the future discovery of oncology products".

Via : topnews.us

Lasker Awards go to biologists for work on obesity, blindness

This morning, the Lasker Foundation announced its awards for biomedical research, prizes considered to be some of the most significant in the field. This year's prizes go to researchers who made significant strides in understanding the biology of obesity, and another who turned our knowledge of blood vessel development into a therapy for a degenerative eye disease. It's an interesting choice for the awards; the initial discoveries were indeed seminal, but they raised hopes for rapid medical progress that haven't quite panned out.

The Lasker Award for Clinical Research is going to Napoleone Ferrara who works at the biotech company Genentech (now a part of Roche). Ferrara could easily receive awards for his role in the discovery of VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor), a protein that signals to the cells that line blood vessel walls. In response, these cells begin to divide and migrate, enabling the formation of new blood vessels.

Ferrara recognized that this process played a key role in age-related macular degeneration, where blood vessels in the retina grow in an uncontrolled manner, ultimately leading to severe reductions in vision. Ferrara helped develop a treatment for this by generating an antibody that neutralized VEGF by preventing it from interacting with its receptors. By eliminating a key signal for blood vessel growth, the vision of many patients facing macular degeneration can be preserved.

Two aspects of this approach are pretty notable. The use of an antibody for targeted therapeutic work has been considered for decades prior to Ferrera's work, but very few treatments of this sort had ever reached the market. In recent years, a number of other similar treatments have arrived, many of them targeting cancer-promoting proteins. They're effective to a degree, but none of them have been outright cures, and most come with far more side effects than the specificity of antibodies might have led many to suspect.

In fact, VEGF antibodies were originally developed as a therapy for solid tumors, which require the growth of new blood vessels to keep the cancerous cells supplied with nutrients—Genentech sells one of these, and Ferrara played a central role in its creation. But, again, this approach hasn't quite been everything it was hoped it would be, as the treatment is only partially effective in combination with other therapies, and its high costs have caused a number of national and private healthcare providers to drop it as a treatment option. This may explain why the prize citation primarily focuses on the more clearly effective macular degeneration treatment.

Obesity and genetics

The Medical Research award went to Douglas Coleman and Jeffrey Friedman for their work, which led to the discovery of one of the first hormones linked to obesity, leptin. Coleman is based at the world's foremost mouse-breeding site, Jackson Labs, and benefitted from the fact that its staff is trained to identify unusual looking mice that sometimes arise spontaneously within the breeding stocks. Over the years, two different lines of mice were discovered that had an inherited form of obesity.

The award citation notes that Coleman demonstrated that one of the two genes involved was a circulating hormone through an amazing experiment: he linked the two circulatory systems of the mice together, and showed that one of them produced a soluble factor that could rescue the phenotype in the other, but remained obese itself. Friedman eventually isolated the gene for this factor, called ob for the obese phenotype; the protein that it produces has since been termed leptin.

Leptin is now known to be produced by fat cells, and signal to areas of the brain that influence food intake. Animals lacking either leptin or its receptors never experience satiation, and continue eating long after filling their dietary needs. A few humans with mutations in the leptin gene have since been identified; they are also obese.

Again, this was an area that seemed very promising. Other hormones that influence appetite were identified later, raising the hope that obesity might be controlled by a careful suppression of appetite that used the body's own natural mechanisms for doing so. But that hasn't quite worked out either; even using leptin to block the obesity of the people with mutant forms of it hasn't turned out to be easy. Ultimately, a better understanding of how the body decides when and how much to eat may help cut into the high obesity levels, but that still seems to be a few years off.

The Laskers act as recognition that, even though these discoveries may not have worked out as many people had hoped, they have fundamentally changed how we view two very significant problems (obesity and cancer) and, in one case, led to an effective treatment for an unrelated disease.

Via : arstechnica.com

Pregnant Women Should Gain Less Weight (Easy For You To Say, New York Times)

In her Personal Health column in the New York Times, Jane Brody, took on the increasingly pressing issue of pregnancy weight gain. Recent studies have revealed that the more a woman gains in pregnancy, the more likely she is to have a big baby. And big babies are more likely to have health problems, including complications at birth, and weight problems later in life.

There are more big babies being born now than ever before. And per this and other studies, women are both gaining more weight during pregnancy and starting out heavier when they get pregnant. Brody says this study may show we’ve got the wrong idea about what’s causing our obesity epidemic. What if it isn’t the result of poor eating habits and low activity levels? What if it isn’t about behavioral choices at all, but the result of excessive weight gain in pregnancy?

This study has been out for a bit (I wrote about it a few weeks ago). But Brody’s piece drove it home in a big way. If birth weight is truly a predictor of future body mass index (a connection I was unaware of before reading this piece) and pregnancy weight gain is a predictor of birth weight, well, it seems like the case for keeping moms’ weight down might be even stronger than we’d previously thought.

And the numbers are indeed concerning: “fewer than 40 percent of pregnant women gain only the recommended amount of weight during their pregnancy,” according to Dr. Sylvia R. Karasu and Dr. T. Byram Karasu, authors of “The Gravity of Weight.”

So what does this mean for pregnant women, now and in the future? I think it’s pretty clear that we are going to start seeing stricter guidelines about pregnancy diet and weight gain. While I see that there is good reason for this from a public health perspective, I worry about how this translates to the individual woman. Pregnancy is already so rife with restrictions and recommendations. A certain looseness about the quantity of food one eats can sort of help compensate for the fact that so many foods and drinks are off limits. If pregnancy became a time of tight diets and morbid fear of excessive weight gain…it would be sort of like the rest of most women’s lives.

Pregnancy weight gain is not always so easy to control. Food cravings can rule the appetite, and exercise can be more of a challenge than usual. In fact, pregnancy weight and diet control may just be part of the puzzle. The take-home from these findings, according to study leader Janet Currie, is not just about pregnancy weight. It’s about womens’ weight in general: “The next frontier has to be the prepregnancy period. If we really want to improve the health of children, we have to get to mothers before they get pregnant.” So if you’re thinking of having children sometime in the future, expect to have your diet and exercise plan be part of the discussion.

Via : blogs.babble.com

Sunless tanning: Teens learn benefits

Sunless tanning lotions are growing in popularity among teens and could encourage sun safety, according to a new study.

Researchers at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta say about one in every ten teens use sunless tanning products. However, these adolescents were also more likely to frequent tanning beds, not wear sunscreen and get more sunburns.

When researchers at the University of Massachusetts educated a group of sunbathers on the dangers of UV exposure, as well as the benefits of sunless tanning products, their habits changed. Two months later, participants said they sunbathed less often and had fewer sunburns. They also used sunless tanning products more often.

Researchers say promoting these products as a part of a health message, rather than just for cosmetic purposes, could have an important impact on skin cancer.

Sunless tanners up skin cancer risk

Despite the increase reported in the use of sunless tanning products, teenagers still get sunburns and engage in other skin-damaging behaviors such as indoor tanning.


"Many people find a tanned appearance to be physically attractive and combating that with a health message is difficult," said study co-author Sherry Pagoto of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worchester.

Previous studies, however, have linked too much sun ultraviolet radiation with melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer and the second leading cause of malignancy among young women.

According to the study published in the Archives of Dermatology, the higher use of sunless tanning products does not necessarily mean using more sunscreen or limiting the UV exposure.

"Our findings are that in adolescents, use of sunless tanning products appears independently correlated with risky UVR exposure behaviors [indoor tanning and having sunburns in the previous summer] but not with routine use of sunscreen," said lead researcher Vilma E. Cokkinides of the American Cancer Society.

"People who really want to be tan should strongly consider using sunless tanning instead of tanning booths or sunbathing," said Pagoto, stressing that having a fake tan instead of sunbathing can lower the women's risk of developing skin malignancies.

Scientists believe offering sunbathing women with free samples of tanning lotion and sunscreen can not only improve their awareness about the harms of sun exposure but also can protect them against the related malignancies.

"Instead of trying to talk people out of wanting to be tan, we decided to encourage them to use sunless tanning as a healthier alternative," Pagoto added.

Most sunless tanning lotions and sprays contain a chemical called dihydroxyacetone, a compound approved by the US Food and Drug Administration which combines with amino acids in the skin to produce a tanned color.

Via : presstv.ir

IV Aspirin Found to Be Safe, Effective in Severe Headache

Intravenous (IV) aspirin appears to be effective and safe in the treatment of patients hospitalized for the management of severe headache, according to research published in the Sept. 21 issue of Neurology.

Mark W. Weatherall, Ph.D., of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, and colleagues reviewed the records of 168 severe headache patients who received IV aspirin (lysine acetylsalicylic acid), most of whom had overused and were withdrawing from other pain medications.

The researchers found that, on more than a quarter of the occasions on which IV aspirin was administered, there was at least a three-point decrease on a 10-point visual analog pain scale. There was an overall adverse effect rate of 5.9 percent, with no serious adverse events reported. Two patients discontinued aspirin treatment: one asthma patient who had a decrease in vital capacity and a second patient who became needle phobic. The most common adverse events were nausea and cannula pain, experienced by four and three patients, respectively.

"In summary, IV lysine acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is effective and well-tolerated in the management of severe rebound headache in patients undergoing medication withdrawal," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical and/or medical device companies. One author estimates that 5 percent of his practice involves administering IV aspirin to headache patients.

Via : modernmedicine.com

A New Campaign to Fight Lung Cancer Gets £100,000

With aim of combating lung cancer, as much as £100,000 amount has been granted to South Lakeland.

NHS Cumbria is ready to come up with a new campaign, aiming to alert people about the early signs of lung cancer and convincing them to go for check up with their doctors.

The Department of Health has awarded the money to this noteworthy campaign, which will come into action in January. The NHS North East Cancer Network has also given £25,000 to support the campaign.

The last recorded figures of cancer deaths were revealed in 2007, according to the data, lung cancer killed 321 people in Cumbria.

Lung cancer falls into the category of most serious and common form of cancer. Coughing persistently for several weeks, chest pain, sudden weight loss and shortness of breath are some of the common symptoms of lung cancer.

Most of the people have lung cancer because of smoking as this habit is the biggest reason of developing this serious type of cancer. It has been estimated that smoking 20 cigarettes in a day results in increasing the chances of developing lung cancer by 20 times, as compared to the ones who do not smoke.

Via : topnews.co.uk

New Method Helps Separation of DNA Fragments in Hydrogels

A Texas A&M University chemical engineer has provided an important advancement to DNA analysis by revealing a new method of separating DNA fragments more effectively, which has the potential to benefit the fields of genetic engineering, biomedical research and forensics.

Victor M. Ugaz, an associate professor in the university's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, along with Nan Shi, a graduate student, have been working with a gelatin called hydrogel in order to develop and observe the certain types of conditions that "result in the optimum gel pore structure for separation of a wide range of DNA fragment sizes." The way DNA fragments moved through the hydrogel was key to their findings.

Ugaz and Shi's research consisted of using a process called electrophoresis, where negatively charged DNA is inserted into a porous hydrogel. Then, an electric field is applied in order to make DNA fragments move though the hydrogel's pores. Smaller chains are able to move through pores easier and faster, where longer chains have to "unthread" and separate in order to pass through pores that are either the same size or smaller than the coiled DNA fragment. This separation process is called entropic trapping. Longer DNA chains separate and squeeze quickly through smaller pores and return to its coiled shape in larger pores.

"It changes the way you think about the entire process because these findings demonstrate a rational way to connect the pore structure of the gel quantitatively to the mechanism by which the DNA moves through the gel," said Ugaz. "Researchers can now actually design gels to specifically harness certain effects, and they will need this information we have found to do that."

What makes Ugaz and Shi's work an important advancement is the use of entropic trapping for separation within a hydrogel because up until this point, scientists were unsure as to how the DNA fragment's transport system was linked to the hydrogel's structure of pores. Choosing the correct hydrogel for these types of processes was difficult because hydrogels have specific properties, and there was no way of knowing which hydrogel possessed the right properties for this type of research. But entropic trapping within the gel has proved to be an efficient way for DNA fragments to travel through the pores.

"You want to be able to detect the smallest possible difference in size between DNA fragments," said Ugaz. "The size of the fragments may be very close, and you may need to detect a difference of one unit in size. To do this, you would want to be able to specifically construct a hydrogel with the necessary pore structure to achieve this.

"We have a better picture of how to do this than what has existed. We know what the gel needs to look like and how it needs to be prepared. We're able to understand how to construct a gel that would allow DNA to move via an entropic trapping method that enhances separation performance and in turn leads to more effective analysis. This finding could have enormous implications by helping remove current barriers to separation efficiency."

Via : dailytech.com

Gene Copies to Be Studied

New research institution of Russian academy of sciences will study gene copies among other things.

Recently established Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology of Siberian branch of Russian academy of sciences lists genetic engineering among other research topics. Some laboratories deal with animal genomes, because this work is interesting and promising for the mankind. Some mammals. For instance, have so-called accessory chromosomes, also known as B-chromosomes, and no one knew why. Now researchers known, that these B-chromosomes carry copies of very important genes, which can be damaged on main chromosomes.

The Institute also deals with genetic therapy, which is replacing incorrectly working genes with their correctly working artificial copies. Scientists will try to introduce correctly working genes into B-chromosomes, because trying to insert a gene directly into genome often results in misplacements, which, in their turn, may lead to additional problems with health.

Via : russia-ic.com

Scientists develop fast method to pinpoint genes behind TB virulence

Scientists from Europe and Asia have identified 10 virulence genes of the tubercle bacillus, which causes tuberculosis or TB. This discovery offers the medical world an opportunity to develop new treatments and test novel vaccine candidates against one of the world's most common yet deadliest diseases. The findings of the study, funded in part by the EU, are presented in the PLoS (Public Library of Science) Pathogens journal.

Despite the complex task at hand, the scientists successfully obtained their results in just two weeks thanks to a new screening technique they developed. This method could be transposed to other intracellular pathogens without any problem, according to them.

While physicians do their best to quash this disease, tuberculosis continues to kill almost 2 million people worldwide each year. TB is caused by bacteria of the mycobacterium family, which includes Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the agent of TB in people. How it propagates within the host cell determines its pathogenicity (virulence).

What researchers have known until now is that this pathogenic agent can actually break free from the defence hold of the host. So it infects through parasitism of the macrophages, which play a vital role in the body's immune response by destroying any microbes.

M. tuberculosis enters the lungs, is ingested by the alveolar macrophages and positions itself in a phagosome, an intracellular compartment. Phagosomes usually kill off the bodies ingested by the macrophage via acidification, but TB blocks the acidification and proliferates fruitfully.

Thanks to the new screening method developed by the scientists, which involves a robot, cellular phenotype samples can be identified both visually and automatically. The upshot is that researchers have more time to identify the microbial bodies involved in the parasitism of cells.

The team, led by Dr Olivier Neyrolles from the Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (CNRS, Centre national de la recherche scientifique/Université de Toulouse) and Dr Priscille Brodin from INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) and Institut Pasteur, used the method on a virulent strain of M. tuberculosis and screened over 11,000 mutants of TB rather quickly. The robot was programmed to find out if the 'acidification function' was enabled or not. So the scientists isolated the mutants that failed to block acidification of the phagosome. Genetic engineering helped the team identify the mutations, and they later succeeded in characterising 10 genes involved in the parasitism of the macrophage.

The team pointed out that most of the genes code for the synthesis of products secreted by the bacteria: proteins and lipids. They also noted how the isolated mutants could be used when new vaccines are to be developed.

Scientists involved in the study were from France, South Korea, Spain and the UK.

The findings are an outcome of three EU-funded projects: TB-MACS; TB-VIR; and NEWTBVAC. TB-MACS ('Identification and characterisation of mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence genes involved in macrophage parasitism') received more than EUR 734,000 under the 'Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health' Thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to improve human health by defining bacterial products and processes that are essential to infection.

TB-VIR ('Mycobacterium tuberculosis W-Beijing genetic diversity and differential virulence and host immune responses'), backed with almost EUR 3.9 million, and NEWTBVAC ('Discovery and preclinical development of new generation tuberculosis vaccines'), which received EUR 12 million, are supported under the Health Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

Via : cordis.europa.eu

Amryis Files with SEC to Raise $121 Million in IPO

Amyris, a developer of microbial technologies for producing biofuels and medicines, has filed an amendment to its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of stock, indicating that it intends to sell about 5.3 million shares and raise an estimated $121 million in the deal.

In April, the company indicated in an SEC filing that it intended to raise an estimated $100 million.

Founded in 2003 and based in Emeryville, Calif., Amyris initially developed its technology under a non-profit initiative to provide a reliable and affordable source of artemisinin, which is an anti-malarial drug.

The company has developed genetic engineering and screening technologies that modify the way microbes process sugar, turning them into “living factories, or biorefineries.” It is now applying its industrial synthetic biology platform to provide alternatives to a range of petroleum-sourced products.

Amyris is focusing on Brazilian sugarcane as its primary biofuel feedstock. Its subsidiaries include Amyris Brasil, a majority-owned Brasilian company through which it conducts Brasilian operations for the manufacture and trade of products, and Amyris Fuels, a wholly-owned subsidiary through which it is building U.S. fuels distribution capabilities.

Amyris has raised a total of around $244 million in venture capital and employs about 200 people.

Via : smartenergynews.net

Synthetic Life Now A Fact

EVERYONE grumbles from time to time about doctors “playing God,” but now scientists have finally managed to create a cell that has fully synthetic DNA. In the most literal sense, we are now in the business of creating life.

It used to be the stuff of science fiction (what isn’t these days?), but it’s true, and it’s happening today.

Combining advanced computer modeling techniques with genetic engineering, researchers have managed to recode the DNA of a bacterium, more or less at will. Keep in mind, the bacteria hasn’t been created “from scratch,” rather, the individual DNA sequences were synthesized from a “blueprint” on a computer.

At present, the implementation of the technique is more of a “micro-transplant” than anything else. A DNA synthesizer generates the customized sequences, which are then added to specialized yeast cultures. The yeast’s built-in genetic mechanisms tie together the new sequences in their proper order. After this has been done, the completed genomes are extracted, and then planted into donor cells. The donor cells will then reproduce according to the instructions printed on the synthetic DNA.

So what’s the upshot of all of this technical mumbo-jumbo? Initially, not much. They can encode some junk strands with strings of letters, or inject genes that will cause the cells to produce a specific protein. In the near term, applications are broad, ranging from new types of oil-eating bacteria to improved antibiotics.

In the long term, the implications are staggering. If we can recode the genomes of individual bacterial cells, we’ll soon be able to do the same for more complex creatures, like tardigrades (small animals that can survive in extreme weather), capybaras, or humans. With this technique, we’re a big leap closer to being able to correct genetic conditions, for example. But of course, there’s a catch (in bioscience, there’s always a catch to any new advancement).

If we can inject DNA into bacteria that makes it produce an antibiotic or other useful compound, the same techniques could be used to make an engineered organism more resistant to antibiotics, or better suited to biological warfare.

So, while scientists will herald this and other advancements as a great leap forward, whistleblowers, doomsday theorists and other naysayers will see this as yet another skid down a steep slippery slope. Religious groups will no doubt take offense to humans tinkering with our own genetic blueprints.

My perspective on it – the real breakthrough here is the ability to easily model and design genes. The rest of the technology, as described, is simply a refinement of pre-existing techniques. Ethical concerns aside, these techniques are here to stay, and they’ll only improve with time.

Via : timesleader.com

GM salmon faces widespread opposition

Food & Water Watch and other groups have sent a letter to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demanding that it discontinue its mostly secretive approval process for genetically engineered (GE) salmon. The fish could be sold as food by 2012 if it wins approval once a 60 day consultation period begins on 19 September.

“Consumers have a right to know that the FDA lacks the means to assess this fish as a genetically engineered animal intended for human consumption. If this product was approved, the resulting consumer health impact could be disastrous,” Food & Water Watch said.

Consumer, environmental, fishing, and animal welfare groups are all asking the FDA to reject the transgenic fish.

“Furthermore, consumers should be aware that the FDA has purposefully scheduled public hearings to limit public participation, beginning them on a Sunday in a remote location (Rockville, Maryland) and creating a complicated registration process for the largely unpublicized events,” Food & Water Watch continued. “In addition, the agency, which has been studying this fish for nearly a decade, released an insufficient amount of information on the matter (in the form of studies performed by AquaBounty, the company with a vested interest in selling its own product), barely two weeks before the public hearings are set to begin on 19 September.”

AquaBounty Technologies Inc developed the GM salmon, which involved adding genetic material from King salmon to Atlantic salmon. This allows the GM fish to reach maturity in half as long as normal farmed Atlantic salmon take to mature.

AquaBounty says the GM fish is designed to grow in contained, land-based facilities and that the fish are all sterile females, so that if they escape into the wild they will not be able to cross-breed with wild salmon and harm fisheries.

Another problem facing genetically modified salmon farmers is that they might have trouble finding restaurants that will carry their fish even if the FDA approves it.

Numerous restaurant chefs stated that they would not work with GM fish. Some voiced moral concerns about private companies patenting organisms, about the potential health effects of GM food and concern for environmental impacts.

“The eventual damage to the environment would be catastrophic. Scientists say they have sterilized the GMO fish, but eventually one will adapt and destroy the natural process,” said Chris Carriker, executive chef of The Gilt Club Restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

In a poll conducted recently on the NRN blog Food Writer’s Diary, 26 out of 32 respondents, or 81 per cent, stated they would not eat GM salmon or serve it in their restaurant, with two respondents saying they would try the fish and four saying they would consider it.

“It goes against my principles,” affirmed Andy Arndt, executive chef of Aquariva Restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

Genetically engineering fish would not be necessary if fisheries were managed properly, he said.

“I’m not interested in seeing ‘genetically altered’ anything in my restaurant,” asserted Antonio Bettencourt, chef-owner of 62 Restaurant & Wine Bar in Salem, Massachusetts.

Via : fis.com

FDA set to approve genetically engineered salmon

The Food and Drug Administration is poised to approve the nation’s first genetically engineered animal designed to be eaten by people.

Next weekend the FDA will kick off a three-day meeting in which an agency-appointed panel of scientists and experts will discuss and listen to public opinion about food safety and environmental impacts of genetically engineered salmon.

The panel will also determine labeling requirements for the salmon, should it be approved.

The genetically engineered fish is an Atlantic salmon with a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon and a genetic on-switch from a fish known as the ocean pout. The company that created the fish is called AquaBounty Technologies, based in Waltham, Mass.

The added genes will allow the salmon to continue growing during the winter, a time when the fish usually do not grow. The result: a salmon that can grow to market size in 16 to 18 months instead of the usual three years.

Many environmental and food safety organizations are opposed to the approval.

They say the salmon company and the FDA have done nothing to alleviate their concerns about the safety of the salmon as food, nor have they properly considered the environmental consequences of farming genetically modified fish.

One paper, cited often by environmental groups opposed to AquaBounty’s salmon, showed that that a release of 60 genetically modified salmon into a wild population of 60,000 would lead to extinction of the wild population in less than 40 generations.

AquaBounty has said it will require producers to use their eggs only at inland facilities.

Charles Margulis, communications director for the Center for Environmental Health, an organization opposed to FDA approval, said the risks are too great and the system too unwieldy to feel reassured by these safeguards.

“If the FDA can’t track chicken eggs, you think they’re going to be able to track fish eggs?” he said.

He said the FDA has so far been vague on what kinds of controls, enforcement or guidelines they will set up if they approve the salmon.

Margulis and others are also concerned about the approval route the FDA is taking with genetically modified animals.

Instead of treating the genetically engineered salmon as a food, they are treating it as a veterinary drug.

Because of that, the application for approval must be kept confidential by the government.

So, how is the FDA deciding whether to approve the salmon or not?

“Basically, the FDA is saying if it looks like a salmon, sounds like a salmon and smells like a salmon, it must be a salmon,” Margulis said.

Via : californiawatch.org

Ganja Yoga Getting Popular in Toronto

Ganja yoga is getting famous with the people of Toronto, Canada. This is a type of yoga that is followed by the puffing of marijuana.

The yoga sessions in the state are being run by Dee Dussault, which he has named ‘Follow Your Bliss’. He believes that when one is in high spirits, he/she can focus better on the breath.

As according to Dussault, smoking cannabis brings benefits, if done before having yoga session. He added that it is all based on the Indian therapies that include seven chakras that have bearing upon both mental and physical health.

Monica Voss, who is also a Toronto-based yoga instructor with 30 years of experience, expressed that the use of cannabis can be perilous.

She said, “Some people might not be aware of their body when they’re high and maybe they would injure themselves”.

Smoking cannabis was also showed advantageous by a study conducted by McGill University. A number of US states have also approved the legitimate use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Tanya Pillay, one of those who attend ganja yoga classes, stated that she appreciated the idea of smoking pot to enjoy spiritual experience and not for fun. She added that yoga combined with the use of pot double the effect.

Via : topnews.us

Vaccination Via Skin Patch Appears Promising

The recent H1N1 flu pandemic has reminded everyone in public health that the entire process of manufacturing vaccines and method for vaccinating large numbers of people has great room for improvement.

However, a consortium of American and European researchers have found a much better way of delivering flu and other types of vaccines, via a self-administered vaccine skin patch.

In a recent study, researchers found mice could be effectively vaccinated against the H5N1 flu virus, via a patch containing tiny micro-needles. The mice developed protective immunity to the virus at levels equal to or beyond that received from an intramuscular shot, including the study showing human skin cells responded to flu like particles delivered in the patch. The findings of the study have been published in the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology.

The device consists of around 100 tiny, dissolvable needles embedded in an adhesive patch, which can be quickly, easily and painlessly self-administered. More research is necessary for finding out whether this method translates to humans, including the ability of people to use the patch accurately, themselves.

The authors of the study write about the desirability of developing pandemic influenza vaccines, which can be produced rapidly on a large scale, at low cost, including vaccine delivery methods enabling mass vaccination within weeks, instead of months.

The patch-based format of micro-needles will help simplify vaccination, enabling self-administration.

This year’s flu vaccine will provide protection against the H1N1 virus, in addition to other strains of flu.

Millburn residents can get the vaccine at a fall flu clinic held Wednesday, 15th September from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Bauer Community Centre at Taylor Park.

The vaccine is free for residents 65 plus having a Medicare card, while those under 65 years have to pay $20 fee.Registration forms are available at Millburn Town Hall and the Millburn Free Public Library.

Via : visitbulgaria.info

Prostate tests necessary for 'at risk'‎

While previous studies have linked regular screening with overdiagnosis of prostate cancer, a new study points out the need for the test in high risk patients.

Screening for prostate cancer remains controversial as many studies have revealed the inaccuracy of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests in differentiating men with aggressive cancer and those who would never need treatment.

Many physicians, therefore, have dissuaded men from getting screened for prostate cancer due to the increasing fears of overdiagnosis.

According to the study published in the British Journal of Urology International, men with inheritable variations in genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 are at a greater risk of developing prostate cancer in the long run.

Regular screening of these patients for the disease has a high predictive value of diagnosing prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men worldwide, in early stages when the disease is still treatable.

"Although these are early results, it appears that (prostate cancer) screening is reasonably accurate at predicting potentially aggressive prostate cancer among men at higher risk of the disease due to a genetic predisposition," said lead researcher Rosalind Eeles from Britain's Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Royal Marsden hospital.

British scientists therefore urged men with a family history of breast and ovarian cancer to undergo regular screening for prostate cancer in order to reduce the risk of costly and damaging overdiagnosis.

Via : presstv.ir

Multivitamins have no effect on colon cancer

According to a recent study taking of multivitamins has no effect on the colon cancer. Scientists in their study randomly chose two groups affected by the disease.

To the first group, they gave multivitamins to during their chemotherapy, and to the second group they gave the multivitamins some months after the chemotherapy session.

They noticed that in both groups there was no improvement. We are not saying that you could be harmed by taking the vitamins, nor was seen any benefit for the related issue.

“This study adds to a growing body of research that questions the purported benefit of multivitamin use, and it underscores the need to investigate the use of individual vitamins, such as vitamin D, which may, in fact, provide real benefit,” study senior author Dr. Charles Fuchs, director of gastrointestinal oncology at Dana-Farber, said in a news release from the institute.

Via : eworldpost.com

Multivitamins have no effect in colon cancer, study says

Despite the general belief, a new study suggests that taking multivitamins regularly does not reduce the risk of death in patients suffering from colorectal cancer.

Previous studies have reported a high mortality rate among postmenopausal women who carry extra weight before being diagnosed with colon cancer. Colon cancer sufferers, therefore, were urged to shed off pounds to live longer.

"The exact mechanism of this effect is unknown, but abnormal glucose tolerance, high levels of insulin, insulin-like growth factor I, and leptin, and increased oxidative stress, typical for patients with abdominal obesity, are known to promote colon cancer progression and increased mortality of colon cancer patients," scientists said.

Many also believed taking multivitamins would help treat colon cancer and prolong life in the sufferers.

According to the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, multivitamin does neither increase the rate of disease-free survival among colon cancer sufferers nor protect them against possible relapses.

Taking the supplements during chemotherapy increased the life span of obese patients with colon cancer who aged 60 and less. After chemotherapy, however, taking the vitamins does not boost the survival rate among these individuals.

"This study adds to a growing body of research that questions the purported benefit of multivitamin use, and it underscores the need to investigate the use of individual vitamins, such as vitamin D, which may, in fact, provide real benefit," said senior author Charles Fuchs.

Via : presstv.ir

Ganja Yoga Gains Popularity: But Marijuana and Yoga Harmful, Experts Claim

Ganja Yoga? Marijuana and yoga seem liked a good combination to Dee Dussault, a woman that specializes in yoga and has been smoking pot for four years. The idea: "When you're high, you can focus on your breath."

Some experts ask her - are you high? According to Right Pundits, Monica Voss, also a Toronto-based yoga instructor with 30 years of experience, thinks it could be dangerous.

"Some people might not be aware of their body when they're high and maybe they would injure themselves." 

While certainly that seems possible, the classes are reportedly popular.

The UK Independent reveals a class includes "a vaporizer café and chat (approximately 30 minutes), followed by a profoundly trippy yoga class, set to mystical music (approximately 75 minutes). Light munchies served afterward."

Via : nationalledger.com

Getting to the root of your stress

Researchers at The University of Western Ontario (Western) in Canada and Meir Medical Centre in Kfar-Saba in Israel collaborated to test a new method of measuring the stress hormone cortisol in strands of hair from 56 male patients experiencing a heart attack.

"Intuitively we know stress is not good for you, but it's not easy to measure," explained Gideon Koren, MD, FACMT, FRCP(C), a pediatrician, clinical pharmacologist, and toxicologist and Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

"We know that on average, hair grows one centimetre (cm) a month, and so if we take a hair sample six cm long, we can determine stress levels for six months by measuring the cortisol level in the hair." 

The data analysed in 56 male patients showed "hair cortisol content emerged as the strongest predictor of heart attack" above other "known risk factors," including smoking, diet, inactivity, genetics and hypertension.

Perhaps in the future, stress tests will include plucking a few strands of hair. However you shouldn't ignore other signs that a heart attack could be near like shooting pains (neck, jaw, shoulders, arms), difficulty catching your breath and chest discomfort.

Via : hindustantimes.com

Hormone In Hair Could Indicate Heart Disease Risk

A new study has found that levels of cortisol in the hair shaft can indicate a higher risk of heart attack.

In the new study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, scientists examined the levels of the stress-marking hormone in the hairshaft to provide a long-term assessment of stress levels.

A three-centimeter hair sample was found to indicate the levels of stress in an individual over three months, since hair grows at a rate of approximately one centimeter per month.

Redford Williams, MD, director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., told WebMD in response to the study: "This is yet another nail in the coffin of those who believe that stress is not a risk factor for heart attack. More research is needed before we get to the point that we routinely measure cortisol in the hair, but we are getting there."

The study was published online in the journal Stress. 

Via : Stress

Stress increases 'risk of death five-fold'

Researchers have found that people aged 65 or older were five times more likely to die within the six year follow-up period if they had high levels of stress hormones. 

They were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks, heart failure and strokes, but not more likely to die from other causes such as cancer, it was found. 

Short-term stress is thought to be good for health but chronic long-term stress can lead to damage in the lining of the blood vessels. 

Stress can also raise blood pressure and cholesterol which are known to be harmful to the heart and stressed people tend to eat a poorer diet and may be more likely to smoke. 

Researchers at VU University Medical Center in The Netherlands, measured levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, in the urine of 861 people aged 65 or older. The measurement was taken once over a 24-hour period. 

They were then tracked for six years and any deaths recorded.
It was found that those with the highest levels of cortisol in their urine were five times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest levels. 

They took into account other factors that could influence cardiovascular disease, such as socio-economic status, health problems such as obesity and high blood pressure and lifestyle factors such as smoking
The findings are due to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 

Dr Nicole Vogelzangs, lead author of the study, said: "Previous studies have suggested that cortisol might increase the risk of cardiovascular mortality, but until now, no study had directly tested this hypothesis. 

"The results of our study clearly show that cortisol levels in a general older population predict cardiovascular death, but not other causes of mortality. 

"Cortisol is an important component of the stress system of the human body but in higher concentrations can be harmful. 

"Our study shows that older persons with high levels of cortisol have an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. This finding significantly adds evidence to the belief that cortisol can be damaging to the cardiovascular system." 

One in three of all deaths in Britain are caused by cardiovascular disease, accounting for more than 200,000 deaths per year. 

Ellen Mason, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Stress is already associated with an increased risk of heart disease and this study throws up more evidence about the role of cortisol.
“However, there are other chemicals in our body besides cortisol which play a part when we’re stressed out. So although this study helps, there is still a lot left to learn. 

“It’s important we all try and find ways to cope with stress which don’t involve unhealthy habits that increase your risk of heart disease, such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol and eating foods high in saturated fat and salt.”

Via : telegraph.co.uk

Why an obesity operation must be the last resort

It’s sad that we’re resorting increasingly to surgery to tackle obesity. The NHS carried out more than 4,000 weight-loss operations last year – nine times as many as in 2004.

Now a report by research body the Office of Health Economics argues for even more, claiming that more than £1billion could be saved in three years if a quarter of eligible patients were treated.

There may be some argument for being more cost-effective, reducing demands on the NHS, but I take these claims with a pinch of salt.

Government advisory body NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) states that weight-loss ops such as gastric bands and bypasses should only be used as a last resort. I agree.

To argue just for cost-effectiveness misses the point. This is a surgical remedy for something that should be tackled much earlier in a risk-free, low-cost way.

All operations carry risks, more so when patients are obese. Although relatively low, risks for a band can be serious, including a tear in the stomach wall, blockage, leakage or erosion of the band, plus potentially serious complications from nausea and vomiting if you overeat after the op.

For bypasses, complications may include leaks from the intestine or bowel, bowel obstruction, internal bleeding and clots. Then there are the usual risks of infection and a reaction to the anaesthetic. After both ops, eating a normal range of foods and portion sizes is no longer possible.

Yet, when people are given the right information, help and support, they can lose weight through lifestyle. A study of 20,000 people by the Medical Research Council concluded that, regardless of genes, lifestyle changes can shift a lot of excess weight.

I’m not suggesting losing weight is easy. There are many reasons people struggle, ranging from a lack of guidance and poor childhood habits to emotional issues.

But I think far more needs to be done to address obesity earlier. We need to start with better education about healthy eating in schools and more exercise in the curriculum.

More primary care trusts should issue prescriptions for exercise and weight-loss groups such as WeightWatchers and Slimming World. These clubs tackle the cause of obesity, educating their members and giving them the support they need to change their behaviour.

The Medical Research Council has found that people referred to WeightWatchers lost 15lb in a year compared with 9lb for those who had just seen their doctor.

People see celebs who’ve lost lots of weight with a band and think it’s a magic bullet. It’s not. We need to tackle why people overeat in the first place – something surgery doesn’t do.

Via : mirror.co.uk

Sleep Deprivation Increases Risk of Teenage Obesity

A new study has found that teenagers who don’t get enough sleep on weeknights are more likely to eat fatty foods that put them at risk for obesity and other health related problems.

The sleep study, published in the September issue of Sleep, involved 240 American teenagers ages 16 to 19. It suggest that teenagers who sleep for less than eight hours a night eat more fatty foods snacks compared with those who get more than eight hours. The new study also revealed that getting too little sleep can result in chronic changes in the diet that can increase the risk of obesity, especially in girls.

“There’s been a lot of research over the last five years implicating insufficient sleep with obesity. Some experimental studies on sleep deprivation in controlled laboratory environments show a craving for fatty foods among the participants who got less sleep”, said study author Dr. Susan Redline, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

The researchers explained that lack of sleep can affect metabolism by changing the level of appetite which over time can alter energy balance and increase the risk of obesity. They also concluded that sleep might be the missing link in the fight against obesity, which has focused solely on diet and exercise.

Via : dailyrosetta.com

BC Developing Better Ovarian Cancer Treatment

The agency of Oncology, British Columbia suggested including the removal or ligation of fallopian tubes
in hysterectomy to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer
.

The gynecologic oncologist Sarah Finlayson Vancouver General Hospital said that research done in the province show that in half of cases of fatal ovarian cancer, the tumor developed in the tubes. By changing the procedures during hysterectomy, she believes that the number of deaths could be reduced by 30-50% in 20 years.

Each year, nearly 50,000 surgical removal of the uterus are made in the country.

Recent studies have shown that 18% of women with ovarian cancer in British Columbia had undergone a hysterectomy who had left their fallopian tubes intact. The researchers believe that their removal would have prevented the disease.

In addition, researchers in the province have discovered that in 20% of cases, ovarian cancer was caused by a genetic mutation. According to them, tests by members of the family of a patient would identify women at risk of developing this type of cancer.

Via : eontarionow.com

Nearly three-quarters of Ontario adults are obese or overweight

Nearly three-quarters of adults in Ontario are overweight or obese and have a strong occurrence of high blood pressure, according to new research that adds to the evidence linking weight and heath. 

Ottawa researchers found that about one in four adults were obese and almost half of them overweight, with high blood pressure affecting one-third of both obese men and women. 

The findings come a day after the Canadian Diabetes Association indicated that the prevalence of diabetes had risen sharply over the past 10 years and, if action isn’t taken, it could cost Ontario $7-billion by 2020.

Frans Leenen, lead author of the study from Ottawa, said Thursday that a similar price tag could be attached to high blood pressure. Overweight adults are often ignored because they have become the norm in society, but Dr. Leenen said this will burden the health-care system. 

“Some changes are happening of course … but it will probably have to be a little more intense and a little bit faster,” said Dr. Leenen, a professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa and director of the hypertension unit at the university’s Heart Institute. 

The study, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, examined more than 2,500 Ontarians between the ages of 20 and 79. The researchers measured weight and height to calculate BMI (an approximation of body fat), and they assessed blood pressure. 

They found that only 14 per cent of men with a normal BMI had high blood pressure, compared with 19 per cent of those who were overweight and 36 per cent who were obese. The figures were similar among women, and Dr. Leenen said the pattern is likely comparable across Canada. 

“More strategies are needed to deal with the overweight-obesity epidemic,” he said. 

Via : theglobeandmail.com

Long-term weight loss may be risky to health

Long–term weight loss may be harmful to health as it can be linked to illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension and diabetes, researchers said on Tuesday.

Blood industrial pollutants compounds can be normally originated in fatty tissues, but during weight loss, when fat breaks down, it can go to the blood stream, according to lead researcher Duk-Hee Lee who conducted the study at the Kyungpook National University in Daegu in South Korea.

Moreover, she wrote in an e-mail that we are living with a strong belief that losing weight is always advantageous, and that weight gain is always harmful to our health. She also added that we think that increased levels of pollutants in blood because ofweight loss can influence our health in different kind of ways.

In addition, Lee and her team of international colleagues examined 1,099 contributors in the United States and focus on the seven such compounds found in their blood, according to what they said in an article available in the International Journal of Obesity.

Likewise, the researchers said in a statement that once the pollutants are discharged into the bloodstream, these can be able to reach vital organs.

Also, those people who lost most of their weight for more than ten years had the top concentrations of the compounds, dubbed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), in comparison to those who maintained a stable weight.

Lee said that there is materializing proof that POPs are not safe. POPs are associated to periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, coronary heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

Several factors were seen including age, gender and race to clarify the distinction on concentrations of these pollutants, but history of weight stayed a statistically essential feature.

Furthermore, Lee said that more studies were required to ascertain if such hazard overshadowed the benefits to be attained from weight loss.

Via : seedol.com

Is Losing Weight Toxic? New Study Says Fat Releases Industrial Chemicals

Now for the completely contradictory news of the day.

According to a new study, losing weight can be bad for you, and the longer you lose weight, the worse it is.

An international team of scientists found that toxic pollutants, which are stored in fat, release themselves into the bloodstream when fat dissipates.

The chemicals, called persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are linked to degenerative diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, the study's lead author Duk-Hee Le told Reuters Health.

Lee's team followed 1,099 American participants, tested their blood, and found concentrations of seven potentially harmful POPs.

Subjects who lost significant weight over the course of ten years were compared to those who gained or maintained a steady weight. The "Biggest Losers" had the highest concentrations of POP's.

More studies are needed to establish if such harm outweighs the benefits from weight loss, Lee, who hails from the Kyungpook National University in Daegu in South Korea told Reuters.

Via : cbsnews.com

Unfit men working long hours 'twice as likely' to die of heart problems

Men who work more than 45 hours a week are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease if they are unfit, research has found, although exercising can counteract the effects. 

Researchers found that men who were physically fit coped better with their long working hours than those who were unfit. 

The findings, based on 5,000 Danish men aged between 40 and 59, found that overall men who worked between 41 and 45 hours were almost 60 per cent more likely to die of heart disease than those working fewer hours. 

The effect was more pronounced when physical fitness was taken into account, as measured by their lung capacity, with unfit men twice as likely to die as men working less than 40 hours.

The findings were published in the journal Heart. 

 

Lead author Dr Andreas Holtermann, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark, wrote in the journal: "These findings suggest that men working long hours should be physically fit."

Via : telegraph.co.uk

 

Exercise guidelines for patients with diabetes

Source morgantraining.co.uk

 

 

 

At a glance

    * Exercise has demonstrable benefits for cardiovascular risk factors of concern in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
    * Standard exercise stress testing is recommended before initiating a vigorous fitness program.
    * Physical activity should be initiated gradually in previously sedentary individuals.
    * Active people are less prone to foot ulceration.

The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the threat of an epidemic of its complications have led the American Heart Association to issue a scientific statement on a key but often overlooked element of T2DM management: exercise.


"We want to emphasize that exercise is just as important, if not more important, as giving antihypertensive medication, hypoglycemic medication, or a statin," says Roger S. Blumenthal, MD, director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Preventive Cardiology Center in Baltimore and an author of the statement.


Regular exercise has been shown to improve glycemic control, presumably through reduced body fat, heightened insulin sensitivity, and enhanced glucose transporter function. Gains in muscle mass and blood flow may also play a role, the guidelines suggest. More generally, exercise has demonstrable benefits for cardiovascular risk factors of concern in T2DM, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. 


The authors advocate the inclusion of exercise in prevention counseling as part of every clinical encounter with T2DM patients and suggest that the primary-care setting is "the logical first location for education" in this area. 


The guidelines address exercise training in terms of duration, frequency, and intensity as well as such ancillary concerns as cardiovascular and other risks and adherence. One often misunderstood issue that deserves special attention, Dr. Blumenthal notes, is preparticipation testing. 

When and how to test 


While major cardiac events during exercise are generally rare, the imposition of screening for occult coronary artery disease may pose a barrier to exercise, particularly in obese and out-of-shape individuals. "The overall balance of benefit in exercise substantially exceeds the risk in unselected subjects," the guidelines state.


The presence of T2DM does not change that equation. "Many clinicians, especially in private practice, think that if a patient has diabetes, you have to do stress nuclear testing," explains Dr. Blumenthal. "There's no basis for that at all."


Standard exercise stress testing (with echocardiography, if imaging is indicated) is more broadly useful, and the guidelines recommend this before initiating a vigorous fitness program. When more moderate exercise is planned, testing may be more selective, generally targeting individuals with stable coronary artery disease who have not been tested for two years, those who experience chest discomfort or dyspnea, or those exhibiting an abnormal ECG or clinical or laboratory evidence of peripheral artery disease or cerebrovascular disease.


Treadmill testing is most useful. Results can be used to help design an exercise program. For example, a patient with ischemia at a high workload might be prescribed a protocol that maintains a heart rate at least 10 beats/minute below the ischemic threshold. Stress imaging and pharmacologic stress testing are indicated in specified circumstances.


Via : clinicaladvisor.com