Health

Adding more yogurt to your diet may help lower risk of high blood pressure, according to a new research.

A study presented at the American Heart Association`s High Blood Pressure Research 2012 Scientific Sessions found the long-term yogurt-eaters were less likely to develop high blood pressure and on average had lower systolic blood pressure than those who didn`t eat yogurt.

Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading. It measures the force of blood against the walls of arteries when the heart is beating.

A euphoric high delivered by party drug mephedrone not only makes it extremely addictive but also prompts users to quaff massive doses to maintain the kick, says a study.

“Combined with the fact mephedrone is skyrocketing in popularity worldwide, our finding that high doses can cause ongoing cognitive impairment spells a significant risk for users,” said Craig Motbey, doctoral candidate at the The University of Sydney School of Psychology, who led the study.

Extremes of temperatures during heat waves or cold spells could trigger premature deaths from heart attacks, according to a new study by Australian researchers.

The findings are important because of how the body responds to temperate extremes, the growing obesity trend and the Earth’s climate changes, said Cunrui Huang, who led the study as doctoral scholar at the School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane.

Extremes of temperatures during heat waves or cold spells could trigger premature deaths from heart attacks, according to a new study by Australian researchers.

The findings are important because of how the body responds to temperate extremes, the growing obesity trend and the Earth’s climate changes, said Cunrui Huang, who led the study as doctoral scholar at the School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane.

Scientists may have hit upon an effective way to block asthma attacks by identifying the two most significant biological triggers that bring them on.

Researchers from the Universities of California-San Francisco (UCSF), Johns Hopkins and Duke universities demonstrate that these two triggers for asthma are tied to a specific calcium-activated chloride channel, called TMEM16A.

They regulate airway secretions and smooth muscle contraction, the two major factors linked with asthma attacks, according to the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

Alzheimer’s could actually sabotage the working of several of the brain’s networks, says a study.

Beau Ances, assistant professor of neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who led the study said: “Communications within and between networks are disrupted, but it doesn’t happen all at once.”

“There’s even one network that has a momentary surge of improved connections before it starts dropping again.

Scientists claimed to have developed a simple blood test that can predict with 80 per cent accuracy if pregnant women with preterm contractions will give birth within seven days.

Researchers from the University of Gutenberg, Sweden, studied 142 pregnant women who came to Sahlgrenska University Hospital during the years 1995-2005 with early contractions without rupture of the membranes.

Delivery before 37 full weeks, so-called preterm delivery, is the biggest problem in perinatal medicine today, as it increases the risk of the child being seriously ill in the short and long term.

Kolkata, September 18: The dengue toll in West Bengal has risen to seven while the number of people affected by the disease has risen to 2,033 people, according to the state health department officials Tuesday.

“The death toll is seven. A total of 2,033 people are down with dengue,” said a statement from the department.

All the deaths occurred in the worst-affected Kolkata, where 1,024 patients were affected while the figure in the adjacent North 24 Parganas district is 242.

The disease has hit 16 of the 19 districts in the state, the department said.

A “can do” attitude can work wonders for your health and outlook on life but those who have a greater faith in ‘luck’ or ‘fate’ are more likely to live an unhealthy life, says an Australian study.
Researchers from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research analysed data on the diet, exercise and personality type of more than 7,000 people.
Those who believe in scripting their own lives ate healthier food, exercised more, smoked less and avoided binge drinking, the findings demonstrated, according to a Melbourne statement.

With a view to streamline procedures for coordinating organ transplant, the Maharashtra government has made it mandatory to declare `brain death` and certify it accordingly.

In the current situation, availability of organs for transplantation is falling woefully short of the demand, while organ transplantation is considered as the only treatment for end stage disease.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers have found a way of harnessing ultrasound waves for non-invasive drug delivery or needle-free vaccinations.

Ultrasound – sound waves with frequencies greater than the upper limit of human hearing – can increase skin permeability by lightly wearing away the top layer of the skin, an effect that is transient and pain-free.

With swine flu claiming one more life, eight people have so far succumbed to it in Madhya Pradesh, including four in the state capital, health officials said today.

A woman, Gayatri Bai from Bina district, had tested positive for swine flu at the Regional Medical Research Centre in Jabalpur on September 13, state Chief Medical and Health officer Pankaj Shukla said today.

Smokers are more likely to doze off for less than six hours a day and have a `disturbed` sleep compared to non-smokers, a new study has claimed.

Researchers from Charite Berlin medical school in Germany found that of nearly 1,100 smokers surveyed, 17 per cent got fewer than six hours of sleep each night and 28 per cent reported `disturbed` sleep quality.

That compared with rates of 7 per cent and 19 per cent respectively among more than 1,200 non-smokers who were also surveyed, the Daily Mail reported.

In a finding that could soon render dentists out of business, scientists have discovered a new vaccine that can rid us of tooth decay for ever.

Researchers at the Forsyth Institute in the US are developing a vaccine that targets the bacterium `mutans streptococci`, which causes tooth decay.

When the bacteria break down food, they produce lactic acid, which wears away tooth enamel, producing cavities.

The new cavity-fighting vaccine teaches the immune system to make antibodies that kill the enzymes which enable bacteria to stick to teeth, the `Daily Mail` reported.

Alcoholism is known to cause osteoporosis, which increases risk of fractures, but it can be undone by eight weeks of abstinence and some exercise, suggests a new research.

Osteoporosis, or reduced bone mineral density (BMD), is defined by an absolute decrease in total bone mass, caused mostly by an imbalance between loss of bone mass (resorption) and bone formation. Reduced BMD often co-occurs with alcoholism.

Being bossed around in a stressful job raises chances of a heart attack by 25 percent, warn researchers.

They said workers who feel over-pressured yet powerless are more at danger than counterparts who suffer less stress. Their findings are based on 200,000 workers, including civil servants to factory workers.

Massage therapy for heart patients who are not in a position to go under the knife! It’s actually happening here with doctors using a blood pressure machine and strapping the cuffs to legs to push in extra blood.

The enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) therapy, commonly used in countries like China but yet to catch on in a big way in India, involves strapping large blood-pressure cuffs to legs and pulsing them in sync with a patient’s heartbeat.

The heart responds to the extra flow of blood by naturally creating its own tiny new blood vessels for better nourishment.

All systems of medicine and healing, including ayurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy, as well as yoga would be integrated in the system in government hospitals and primary health centres across Uttar Pradesh.

The programme, officials here told IANS, would be funded under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

In the first phase, an official said, yoga and a therapeutic healthcare option would be tested in 27 districts and would later be integrated with a parallel health plan that includes other systems of medicines such as unani, homoeopathy and ayurveda.

Scientists have identified five genes that determine the human facial expressions.

Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and portrait photographs to map facial features.

They argued that monozygotic twins have almost identical faces and siblings usually have more similar faces than unrelated people, implying that genes play a major role in the appearance of the human face.

However, almost nothing is known about the genes responsible for facial morphology in humans.

Inexpensive statins that lower cholesterol could treat cancer after scientists discovered a new genetic link between high cholesterol levels and the fatal disease.

It means that statins, a cheap and effective drug already taken by millions every day to stave off heart attacks and strokes, could play a major role in slashing cancer risk.
Patients could be given the drugs both to protect against getting cancer and to help treat tumours if they develop, the `Daily Express` reported.

Taking antidepressants prescribed for treating anxiety, depression and insomnia before driving can make you more prone to accidents, researchers claim.

Psychotropic drugs affect the way the brain functions and can impair a driver`s ability to control their vehicle. Research on the links between psychotropic medication and driving accidents has focused on benzodiazepines, which have been used to treat anxiety and insomnia.

Perhaps the best known of these drugs is diazepam. Newer Z-drugs, used to treat insomnia, have received less attention, as have antidepressants and antipsychotics.

Adding a dose of the `good` bacteria to the sinuses may help treat some chronic conditions of the disease, a new study has claimed.

In a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers discovered that some chronic sinus problems may be caused by a depletion of `good` bacteria and the presence of `bad` bacteria in the sinuses.

Adding back good bacteria to the sinuses will work to treat the condition analogous to the way probiotics may treat certain intestinal problems, MyHealthNewsDaily reported.

Researchers have unravelled how an out-of-tune protein precipitates heart failure by causing its muscle to malfunction.

Scientists have known for a while that several heart proteins – troponin I is one of them – get “out of tune” in patients with heart failure but the precise origin of the “bad notes” remained unclear.

Troponin I, found exclusively in heart muscle, is already used as the gold standard marker in blood tests to diagnose heart attacks, but the new findings reveal why and how the same protein is also altered in heart failure, the journal “Circulation” reports.

US scientists are challenging the popular notion that we can “work up an appetite” with vigorous exercise, saying it actually reduces a person’s motivation for food.

James LeCheminant and Michael Larson, both Brigham Young University professors, measured the neural (brain cell) activity of 35 women while they viewed food images, both following a morning of exercise and a morning without exercise.

The research shows that 45 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise in the morning actually reduces a person’s motivation for food.

A low-cost drug, which is widely used as a pain killer in developing countries, can kill drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) — a feat few currently approved TB drugs can accomplish, say researchers.

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers point to a potential new therapy for the more than half million people worldwide whose TB has become resistant to standard drug treatments.

But their main worry is that the effective drug, oxyphenbutazone, may never be tested in TB clinical trials.