Health

Online chatting, playing computer games or watching television at night can leave children sleep deprived and adversely affect their studies and physical health, psychiatrists said at a conference here Wednesday.

“Parents should keep a check on their children`s TV viewing habits… presence of a television set in the child`s bedroom may be a contributor to sleep problems,” said Sunil Mittal, psychiatrist and director of Cosmos Institute of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences (CIMBS).

Scientists have created a potent new gene therapy technique, which could bring hope to millions crippled by arthritis pain.

Not only does the wonder therapy stop the destruction of the joint, it appears to also protect against damage.

It could pave the way for people known to be at risk of developing osteoarthritis being given the jab years in advance to prevent it from ever striking. Current treatments can only relieve symptoms.

There is no cure unless people undergo expensive joint replacement operations, which cost the NHS 1 billion pounds a year.

Doctors have cautioned against apathy to seemingly trivial sleep problems, saying a third of humans exhibit one or the other form of 80 types of disorders, some potentially fatal. But the good news is: Cure is equally at hand.

“How you sleep decides how healthy you are. It’s a non-negotiable part of life. Do not take the problem lightly,” warned top neurologist Dr. Sanjay Manchanda, chair of Sir Gangaram Hospital’s Department of Sleep Medicine in New Delhi.

Findings of a survey conducted by Philips and The Nielsen Company on how Indians sleep:

* 93 percent people feel sleep-deprived, getting less than eight hours a night;

* 87 percent people feel lack of sleep affects health;

* 72 percent people wake up one-three times between sleep;

* 62 percent people exhibit obstructive sleep apnea, or stop breathing for 10 seconds or more;

* 57 percent people feel lack of sleep affects their work;

* 38 percent people have seen a colleague fall asleep;

* 33 percent people snore, half of them louder than they speak;

Infant girls exposed to high levels of the pesticide DDT while still inside the womb have a tripled risk for hypertension in adulthood, according to a new study led by the University of California, Davis.

Previous studies have shown that adults exposed to DDT (dichlorodiplhenyltrichloroethane) are at an increased risk of high blood pressure.

“The prenatal period is exquisitely sensitive to environmental disturbance because that`s when the tissues are developing,” said study lead author Michele La Merrill, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology.

Infants as young as nine months old prefer individuals who are nice to people like them and mean to others, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.

The study found that babies want individuals who share their tastes to be treated well by others, but want those whose tastes differ from their own to be treated badly. And this innate mean streak grows stronger in the next five months of their life.

Job burnout can significantly increase the risk of heart disease, a new US study has warned.

Job burnout is a physical, cognitive, and emotional exhaustion that can result from stress at work.

In the study, those who were identified as being in the top 20 per cent of the burnout scale were found to have a 79 per cent increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries that leads to angina or heart attacks.

Dr Sharon Toker of Tel Aviv University`s Faculty of Management and her fellow researchers found a link between job burnout and CHD.

Scientists have discovered a new type of retinoblastoma, a rapidly developing eye cancer that affects very young babies.

A team of Canadian and international cancer researchers led by Dr Brenda Gallie at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, found that a single cancer gene (an oncogene) drives an aggressive retinoblastoma that starts long before birth in families with no history of the disease.

“This research completely challenges conventional thinking and clinical practice,” said Gallie.

An antibiotic used to treat common infections may carry serious heart risks, scientists have warned.

The drug, called azithromycin but sold under the brand names Zithromax and Zmax as Z-Pak capsules, is prescribed for infections of the ears, lungs, sinuses, skin, throat, and reproductive organs, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

But the antibiotic can interfere with the heart`s electrical activity, disturbing its rhythm with potentially fatal consequences, ABC News reported.

A new study has found that stem cells from the patient`s own body fat could help seek out and destroy cancer cells in a type of brain tumour.

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have found the stem cells from body fat may have the potential to deliver new treatments directly into the brain after the surgical removal of a glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain tumour.

Diabetes drugs, which are delivered in a simple nasal spray could also have a remarkable effect on Alzheimer`s disease, scientists have claimed.

Type 2 diabetes is a known risk factor for Alzheimer`s and it is believed that impaired insulin signalling in the brain could damage nerve cells and contribute to the disease.

Scientists from Northern Ireland, Sweden and the US have shown that some diabetes drugs can improve signs of the disease in mice and that intranasal insulin could be a new strategy to treat the disease, the Daily Express reported.

A study has suggested lifelong exercise is the key to keep one’s brain healthy into the old age.

In the study by King’s College London (KCL), scientists proved how people who keep fit as a child and adult, through activity three or four times a week, improve dramatically cognitive functioning at 50, Daily Express reported.

It found even training just one day a week offered major benefits.

Even though people with high socioeconomic status have always been linked with better health and lower mortality, a new study says that this may not hold true.

What’s remained unclear is whether this association has more to do with access to resources (education, wealth, career opportunity, etc.) or the glow of high social status relative to others. Scholars call the latter “relative deprivation.”

Starving yourself every other day could be the key to losing weight and lowering your risk of cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, scientists have claimed.

Fat loss pills and strenuous exercise could be a thing of the past, with a new diet claiming to improve your waistline, as well as extend your life and keep wrinkles at bay.

The 5:2 diet – also known as intermittent fasting – requires two non-consecutive days of “fasting” each week, when the dieter is to consume no more than 500 calories if they are a woman and 600 if they are a man, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Drugs that could help people to live to 150 by slowing the ageing process may soon be available on drugstores.

The drugs are synthetic versions of resveratrol, an organic chemical found in red wine and believed to have an anti-ageing effect by boosting activity of a protein called SIRT1.

Resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes.

Pharmaceutical firm GSK is now testing the drugs on patients with Type II diabetes and psoriasis, a serious skin condition, the Telegraph reported.

Women who take aspirin have a reduced risk of developing melanoma – a deadly skin cancer-a new study has found.

The longer they take it, the lower the risk they had, the study discovered.

The findings suggest that aspirin`s anti-inflammatory effects may help protect against this type of skin cancer.

In the Women`s Health Initiative, researchers observed US women aged 50 to 79 years for an average of 12 years and noted which individuals developed cancer. At the beginning of the study, the women were asked which medications they took, what they ate, and what activities they performed.

A new study of hospital patients has found that transfusion of donated blood more than three weeks old results in impaired blood vessel function.

Blood banks now consider six weeks to be the maximum permitted storage time of blood for use in transfusion, but recent studies have suggested transfusing blood stored for more than a few weeks has adverse effects in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or critical care.

The health ministry has proposed a “sin tax” on tobacco products to deter people from using them.

“The proceeds from this tax can be used for tobacco control,” a health ministry official told IANS.

“The new tax has been suggested to the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance as part of the government`s exercise to increase taxes on all tobacco products to prevent people from using them,” the official said.

Our ancestors who lived 4,000 years ago might have also suffered heart attacks and strokes like many people today, a new study of mummies has suggested.

To see how healthy hearts were long before fast food and couch potato lifestyles emerged, a team of scientists studied 137 mummies from Egypt, Persia, China and South America dating back 4,000 years.

Results showed that over a third had signs of hardening and narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), the primary cause of heart attacks and strokes caused by lack of blood to the brain, the Sun reported.

A group of students from University of Karachi has explored health benefits of papaya and discovered some facts about the delicious tropical fruit, including its usage in lowering chances of heart attack and controlling diabetes.

During the research, final year students of BS, Agriculture and Agribusiness Department, KU – Mariam Naseem and Muhammad Kamran Nasir – also discovered numerous advantages of papaya seeds.

Smoking a cigarette is no longer considered “cool or glamorous”, according to a new poll in Britain.

Just one percent of smokers believe they look trendy when lighting up, the Daily Express cited the survey of 2,000 British smokers as saying.

The poll, conducted on behalf of the British Heart Foundation, showed two-thirds of smokers – 67 percent – believe public attitudes towards smoking have become increasingly negative in recent years.

The search for a cure for deadly infectious disease like Tuberculosis has led a researcher for the US deep underwater.

Brian Murphy, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is collecting actinomycete bacteria from water throughout the world in a hunt for new antibiotics.

Scientists have developed a new technique to replace missing teeth with a bioengineered material generated from a person`s own gum cells.

Current implant-based methods of whole tooth replacement fail to reproduce a natural root structure and as a consequence of the friction from eating and other jaw movement, loss of jaw bone can occur around the implant.

The research is led by Professor Paul Sharpe, an expert in craniofacial development and stem cell biology at King`s College London.

Weight loss and active lifestyle can help to counteract the effects of obesity, a new study has suggested.

Epidemiologists estimate that about 80 percent of the most common diseases are linked to severe overweight and obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

Obese people are at an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, vascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes and cancer. This lowers their life expectancy.

Stroke survivors can have a speedy recovery, with a fit and better quality of life with regular brisk walks, researchers suggest.

A three-month study found outdoor walking three times a week boosted endurance and resting heart rate, the BBC reported.

Those taking part were able to walk independently or with a cane but researchers said many stroke survivors lack energy and fear falling.

A stroke charity said other exercises could help those unable to walk.