Health

Researchers have showed that stress in pancreatic cells due to sleep deprivation could contribute to the loss or dysfunction of these cells important to maintaining proper blood sugar levels, and that these functions may be exacerbated by normal aging.

Nirinjini Naidoo, Ph.D., research associate professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine, said that the combined effect of aging and sleep deprivation resulted in a loss of control of blood sugar reminiscent of pre-diabetes in mice.

Researchers have found that among patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension that requires 3 or more medications to control, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for 12 weeks resulted in a decrease in 24-hour average and diastolic blood pressure and an improvement in the nocturnal blood pressure pattern, compared to patients who did not receive CPAP.

Recent studies have shown that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may contribute to poor control of blood pressure and that a very high percentage (more than 70 percent) of resistant hypertension patients have OSA.

Social protection for families affected by HIV/AIDS is one of the key strategies to prevent the spread of the disease, the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) said Tuesday.

The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), under the leadership of department of AIDS control, recognizes the fact that reduction of vulnerability is key to the prevention, care, support and treatment of HIV/AIDS, Luv Verma, secretary, AIDS control department, said at a press conference here.

A global annual investment of $17.5 billion in interventions to universalize optimal breastfeeding can prevent millions of babies from infant deaths due to diarrhoea and pneumonia besides impaired development and reduce the risk for diabetes, hypertension, cancer and cardiac diseases in adult life, suggests a report.

The Heart Foundation has estimated that an ABC report that disregarded the benefit of cholesterol medications, statin, could cause up to 3000 hearts attacks over the next five years.

The Foundation conducted a survey and found that a third of those taking cholesterol lowering statin medications stopped them or reduced them after watching ABC’s controversial Catalyst program, News.com.au reported.

The survey found 55,000 Australians, who take statins, completely stopped taking their pills after the program, while a further 130,000 changed their medication by stopping or reducing it.

European Food Safety Authority has ruled out any ‘potential risk of aspartame’, claiming that the artificial sweetener is safe and poses no threat to health.

The EFSA said breakdown products of aspartame, which is used in many foods and soft drinks, are safe for human consumption at current levels of exposure, the BBC reported.

For most products containing aspartame, consumption would need to be exceptionally high and regular over a person’s lifetime, in order to exceed the ADI.

A new study has found that people who took commonly prescribed heartburn and ulcer medications for long term were at higher risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.

Left untreated, vitamin B12 deficiency can increase the risk of dementia, nerve damage, anemia, and other medical complications, some of which may be irreversible. Stomach acid aids in vitamin B12 absorption; suppressing the acids can lead to the health-threatening vitamin deficiency.

Awkward Facebook posts can not only cause embarrassment, but also make some people suffer anguish and anxiety for a long time, a new study has found.

Such Facebook faux pas are common, but depending on who you are and to whom you allow access to your Facebook page,
such embarrassments can cause greater anguish, according to a researchers from the Northwestern University.

Researchers recruited Facebook users through university websites and Craigslist. Only 15 of the 165 people surveyed
had not experienced some kind of face threat in the past six months.

A team of researchers has identified a central switch by which High-density lipoprotein (HDL), known colloquially as “good cholesterol”, controls the inflammatory response.

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is commonly referred to as the “bad cholesterol”, because it promotes atherosclerosis. In contrast, the “good cholesterol”, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), helps transport excess cholesterol out of the bloodstream and can counteract an inflammatory reaction in damaged vessel walls.

A new study has revealed that ‘sunshine vitamin’ D may help combat multiple sclerosis by blocking the migration of destructive immune cells to the brain.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins found in mice with a rodent form of multiple sclerosis (MS), vitamin D appears to block damage-causing immune cells from migrating to the central nervous system, offering a potential explanation for why the so-called “sunshine vitamin” may prevent or ease symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease.

A new study has found that the five measures to stave off dementia are taking regular exercise, not smoking, keeping a low body weight, eating a healthy diet and having a low alcohol intake.

The people who consistently followed four or five of these behaviors experienced a 60 per cent decline in dementia and cognitive decline- with exercise being the strongest mitigating factor- as well as 70 per cent fewer instances of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, compared with people who followed none.

Scientists have identified a mechanism that can help treat brain cancer and a drug that decreases brain tumour growth.

The researchers at the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) have made a discovery that could lead to better treatment for patients suffering from brain cancer.

UK scientists have found that the Mediterranean diet, which includes fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish and olive oil, could help in reducing the risk of developing dementia later in life.

A new study has found that diabetes was associated with an increased risk for developing a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

“People with diabetes have a two- to threefold higher risk for hepatocellular carcinoma compared with those without diabetes,” V. Wendy Setiawan, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, said.

Scientists have developed a new contact lens which releases drugs into the eye and could help treat glaucoma, the world’s leading cause of irreversible blindness.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are one step closer to an eye drop-free reality with the development of a drug-eluting contact lens designed for prolonged delivery of latanoprost, a common drug used for the treatment of glaucoma.

Patients with paracetamol poisoning could be helped by a new way of delivering an antidote more quickly and with fewer side-effects, researchers say.

Treating patients with the common antidote remedy acetylcysteine over a shorter time period than currently applies leads to fewer side-effects, a trial study found.

Patients are normally given the drug by intravenous drip over a 21-hour period, with a large part of the dose given very quickly.

Researchers have revealed that acid reflux affects about 30 million Americans and have explained how such a condition can be avoided during holiday season.

Experts from H ouston Methodist Hospital have said that chewing fruit-flavored or cinnamon sugarless gum after a meal increases the production of saliva, which helps neutralize stomach acid, while increased swallowing can help clear acid from the esophagus.

The doctors have also said that one should stay away from mint flavored gums as mint is a common reflux trigger and choose sugarless gum to prevent cavities.

Zinc can ‘starve’ one of the world’s most deadly bacteria that causes pneumonia and meningitis, by preventing its uptake of an essential metal, scientists have found.

The finding, by researchers at the University of Adelaide and The University of Queensland, opens the way for designing antibacterial agents against Streptococcus pneumonia.

Streptococcus pneumonia is responsible for more than one million deaths a year, killing children, the elderly and other vulnerable people by causing pneumonia, meningitis, and other serious infectious diseases.

Researchers including an Indian-origin scientist have linked parental stress to weight gain in children.

The study found that children whose parents have high levels of stress have a Body Mass Index, or BMI, about 2 per cent higher than those whose parents have low levels of stress.

Children with higher parental stress also gained weight at a 7 per cent higher rate during the study period than other children.

A new study has found that diabetes was associated with an increased risk for developing a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

“People with diabetes have a two- to threefold higher risk for hepatocellular carcinoma compared with those without diabetes,” V. Wendy Setiawan, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, said.

Scientists have developed a microchip-based device that helps easy monitoring of patients’ response to certain malignancies, including ovarian cancer, says a study.

The device, developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, may greatly simplify the monitoring of patients’ response to treatment for ovarian cancer – the most lethal form of gynaecologic cancer – and other malignancies.

Inability of the artery that supplies blood to the penis to expand and contract properly is the reason behind erectile dysfunction (ED).

The study of this mechanism has led to a new understanding of the important link between ED and the development of coronary artery disease, and to new strategies for prevention and treatment.

A new research has discovered a biological mechanism that allows brain tumor cells to escape from the drugs designed to target them, resulting in drug resistance.

Researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center said that ‘ Glioblastoma’ is the most common and deadliest form of brain cancer and drugs have been designed to find and kill those cells by targeting telltale mutations on the cell surface that accelerate tumor growth.

A single dose of the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin, delivered via nasal spray, can enhance brain function in children with autism, scientists have claimed.

Researchers from Yale School of Medicine say they have found that oxytocin enhances brain activity while processing social information in children with autism spectrum disorders.

“This is the first study to evaluate the impact of oxytocin on brain function in children with autism spectrum disorders,” said first author Ilanit Gordon, a Yale Child Study Center adjunct assistant professor.

Researchers have claimed that men who continued smoking after a cancer diagnosis were at an increased risk of death compared to those who quit smoking after diagnosis.

Compared with men who did not smoke after a cancer diagnosis, those who smoked after diagnosis had a 59 percent increase in risk of death from all causes, after adjusting for factors including age, cancer site, and treatment type.