Health

Alcohol hits you harder as you get older, it has been revealed.

According to experts, body composition, medication and liver functionality contribute to longer-lasting hangovers and greater sensitivity to booze as the effects of alcohol get amplified with age, the New York Daily News reported.

The changes in body composition starts becoming visible once you hit 30s as there is less body water and makes you dehydrated, which leads to making people feel the effects of alcohol more strongly than those with greater muscle mass, according to the National Institutes of Health.

A new drug could help prevent people from becoming diabetic. This could prevent obese patients and others at risk of Type 2 -diabetes from ever getting the disease.

Scientists say the innovative drug, known as MK2, could be added to metformin, the current first-line treatment for the illness, to create a super-pill, the Daily Express reported.

This would effectively have double the potency of either drug to control insulin and glucose levels if taken on their own.

Older adults who follow dietary guidelines tend to have a better quality of life and less trouble getting around and taking care of themselves, according to a new study.

Not many prior studies had tried to tackle that issue, researchers said.

“Our paper showed that maintaining an overall optimal diet quality will be beneficial for preserving the general well-being of older adults,” lead author Bamini Gopinath said in an email.

Gopinath is a senior research fellow with the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research at the University of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.

A cup of coffee may keep your heart healthy by improving blood flow, says a study.

A study on 27 healthy adults showed for the first time that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee significantly improved blood flow in a finger, which is a measure of how well the inner lining of the body’s smaller blood vessels work.

The research was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.

Specifically, participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow over a 75-minute period compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee.

In a landmark advancement, Australian scientists have developed a new approach to the treatment of aggressive adult and childhood leukaemia which promises to lead to long-term survival for those suffering from the blood cancer, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre here said Friday.

The report of this ground-breaking technique has been published in the prestigious medical journal Cell Reports to introduce the double-barrelled approach to treatment of leukaemia, reports Xinhua.

A non-invasive test has been developed that can predict whether men with zero sperm counts are capable of fathering children through IVF.

Current methods rely on surgery to find out if a man has viable sperm that can be retrieved for fertility treatment.

The research, in Science Translational Medicine, suggests two biomarkers can identify who will benefit from surgery, the BBC reported.

A UK fertility expert said the test, which will take at least a year to bring to the clinic, was “encouraging”.

Male infertility is responsible for about half of cases of infertility.

A new nanotechnology-based technique for regulating blood sugar in diabetics may give patients the ability to release insulin painlessly using a small ultrasound device, allowing them to go days between injections – rather than using needles to give themselves multiple insulin injections each day.

The technique involves injecting biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles into a patient’s skin. The nanoparticles are made out of poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) and are filled with insulin.

A new study has revealed that the caffeine in a cup of coffee might perk up your blood vessels, thereby improving your cardiovascular health.

A study of 27 healthy adults showed, for the first time, that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee significantly improved blood flow in a finger, which is a measure of how well the inner lining of the body’s smaller blood vessels work.

Specifically, participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow over a 75-minute period compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee.

Researchers have found genetic and cell biological evidence linking autophagy to resistance to the parasite, which kills the effects of anti-malarial drugs.

The study by a Georgetown University professor is the first to explain why drugs designed to fight off malaria stop working in some people with the disease.

Many anti-malarial drugs both slow the growth of malarial parasites, and, at higher doses or over longer periods of time, also kill the malarial parasites.

New studies have suggested that frequent interruptions in children’s sedentary time can have a positive impact on their health.

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute looked at risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in children with a family history of obesity.

They analyzed data taken from an existing QUALITY cohort study that included over 500 children living in Quebec. Using an accelerometer to gather data, the researchers studied all breaks in sedentary behaviour for these kids during a one week period.

Researchers have found that some insomnia symptoms, the most common sleep disorder, are associated with an increased risk of mortality in men.

The study’s lead author Yanping Li from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) said that their research also showed that among men who experience specific symptoms of insomnia, there is a modest increase risk in death from cardiovascular-related issues.

People who eat a diet rich in nuts, including peanuts, are less likely to die from heart disease or cancer, new research suggests.

The more nuts consumed, the greater the apparent benefit, according to the report. It included data from nurses and other health professionals who have been tracked since the 1980s.

Heart disease and cancer – the biggest killers in the U.S. – are responsible for more than one million annual deaths nationwide.

More than a quarter of a million children each year are born infected with the virus that causes AIDS, but too few are being tested early to receive treatment and prolong their lives, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Michele Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, called for diagnostic kits to be improved for detection in babies of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, and for their “still high” current price of $25-50 to be brought down.

A new study has revealed that long-term cocaine abuse may be associated with deficits in parts of the brain involved in monitoring and overseeing one’s own behaviour.

The findings by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai call into question the long-held clinical assumption that addicted individuals continue their compulsive drug use because of oppositional denial or lying, or because of careless minimization of their problems.

A new study has found that older men whose testosterone levels were neither low nor high tended to live longer.

Testosterone is a key male sex hormone involved in maintaining sex drive, sperm production and bone health.

Physicians have long known that low testosterone levels can signal health problems, but the new study found men may not fare better when levels of the hormone rise too high.

A new study has revealed that eating nuts seven or more times a week is inversely associated with total mortality in both men and women, independent of other predictors for death.

Researchers looked at the association of nut consumption, including tree nuts such as almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts, with total and cause-specific mortality among 76,464 women in the Nurses’ Health Study and 42,498 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

A new study led by Indian origin researcher has suggested that cigarette smokers who are over 65 years of age may be able to lower their risk of cardiovascular disease-related deaths to the level of never-smokers when they quit faster than previously reported.

A new study has revealed that the caffeine in a cup of coffee might perk up your blood vessels, thereby improving your cardiovascular health.

A study of 27 healthy adults showed, for the first time, that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee significantly improved blood flow in a finger, which is a measure of how well the inner lining of the body’s smaller blood vessels work.

Specifically, participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow over a 75-minute period compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee.

A new study has suggested that the brain changes associated with meditation and stress reduction could play an important role in slowing the progression of age-related cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer`s disease.

A new study has suggested that resveratrol, a natural compound found in coloured vegetables, fruits and especially grapes, may also block the effects of the highly addictive drug, methamphetamine.

Dennis Miller, associate professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science and an investigator with the Bond Life Sciences Center, and researchers in the Center for Translational Neuroscience at MU, study therapies for drug addiction and neurodegenerative disorders.

Scientists have discovered recent genetic mutations in a malaria parasite and have found a duplication of a gene known to enable the parasite to infect red blood cells and two possible additional components to a more complex red cell invasion mechanism.

Nearly 200 million people globally are at risk of exposure to toxic waste, a report has revealed.

According to a news website, the study from the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross calls for greater efforts to be made to control the problem.

The study was carried out in more than 3,000 sites in over 49 countries.

Director of research at the Blacksmith Institute and professor of public health at the City University of New York said that the revelation was a serious public health issue that has not really been quantified.

An inexpensive blood test can predict who is at a higher risk of developing heart problems and can also give their expectant life span, says a study.

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah, collaborated with scientists at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on the new study using the complete blood count (CBC) risk score, an inexpensive tool that uses all of the information in the common blood test.

Giving a baby solid food besides breast milk after the 17th week of its birth helps it develop a better, stronger immune system to fight food allergies, new research has found.

The University of Southampton study, led by dietician and senior research fellow Kate Grimshaw, revealed that introduction of solid food before this may promote food allergy whereas solid food introduction after the 17th week seems to make the immune system stronger.

“Introducing solid foods alongside breastfeeding can benefit the immune system,” Grimshaw said.

Data reported by the a new study reinforces the positive influence of lifestyle factors in mitigating risks which could potentially up heart disease risk and other health problems.

Findings based on 1,059 residents of New Ulm, Minnesota underscore the importance of obesity prevention and nutrition, specifically eating more fruits and vegetables, in addressing metabolic syndrome (MS), a common precursor to cardiovascular disease (CVD).