Health

Hamburg, February 25: The extract of bitter melon, a common vegetable in India, China and South America, can help protect women from breast cancer, a new study finds.

Bitter melon, rich in Vitamin C and flavonoids, had long been known for its anti-diabetes and blood-sugar lowering properties.

According to the study published in Cancer Research, the extract of the melon, also known as ‘karela’ in Hindi, can slow the growth or even kill breast cancer cells, leaving healthy cells intact.

Geneva, February 25: It is too early to say that the swine flu pandemic has peaked in all parts of the world, the World Health Organization’s emergency committee said.

“The Committee advised that it was premature to conclude that all parts of the world have experienced peak transmission of the H1N1 pandemic influenza,” a spokesman said Tuesday, adding more “time and information was needed.”

Gregory Hartl said the decision of 15 experts was not binding, and that a final decision would be taken by WHO Secretary General Margaret Chan.

San Antonio, February 25: Eating a lot of fat, especially the kind that’s in cookies and pastries, can significantly raise the risk of stroke for women over 50, a large new study finds.

The new study is the largest to look at stroke risk in women and across all types of fat.

It showed a clear trend: Those who ate the most fat had a 44 percent higher risk of the most common type of stroke compared to those who ate the least.

London, February 25: Does this sound like anyone you know? Darryl is 35, has a steady job, a stable home and good marriage, enjoys a few beers in front of the TV most nights — doesn’t have what most people would call a drink problem.

In the United States alone there are probably around 36 million Darryls, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which created the character, played by an actor on its website to help train doctors.

Washington, February 24: Magnesium, a key nutrient for a good memory, may be even more critical than previously thought for the development of neurons (nerve cell) of children and healthy brain cells in adults, says a new study.

Begun at MIT, the research by Inna Slutsky of Tel Aviv University’s (TAU) Sackler School of Medicine evolved to become a multi-centre experiment focussed on a new magnesium supplement, magnesium-L-theronate (MgT) that effectively crosses the blood-brain barrier to inhibit calcium flux in brain neurons.

London, February 24: Have you ever forgotten to post an important letter or let an appointment slip your mind? A new study suggests that for those who regularly use Ecstasy or other recreational drugs, this kind of memory lapse is more common.

Florentia Hadjiefthyvoulou, John Fisk, and Nikola Bridges from the University of Central Lancashire and Catharine Montgomery from Liverpool John Moores University, wanted to delve deeper into the link between deficits in prospective memory (remembering to remember, or remembering to perform an intended action) and drug use.

London, February 24: A structured physical activity programme at school can improve children’s fitness and decrease body fat, confirms a new study.

Researchers in Switzerland studied 540 seven and 11-year-olds in 15 schools. Over nine months, pupils randomly allocated to an intervention group underwent a physical activity programme designed by experts.

This involved structuring their existing three physical education lessons and adding two extra lessons a week.

London, February 23: A new, advanced form of In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment is being overused and may pass on infertility to the next generation, the doctor who pioneered the technique has warned.

The method ‘Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)’ involves injecting a single sperm directly through the shell of the egg and depositing it inside.

Washington, February 23: Anyone who grew up in a large family probably remembers hearing ‘don’t wake the baby’. Latest research confirms that sleep is an integral part of how infants learn more about their new world.

Psychologists Rebecca Gomez, Richard Bootzin and Lynn Nadel at the University of Arizona-Tucson (UA-T) found that babies who nap a little in daytime are more likely to exhibit an advanced level of learning known as abstraction.

Washington, February 23: People who have some control over their working hours may be healthier in both mind and body than those in less flexible jobs, according to a U.S. study.

Analyzing 10 published studies involving about 16,600 workers, researchers found that certain work conditions that gave employees some control — such as self-scheduling shift work and gradual or partial retirement — were linked to health benefits.

Those benefits included lower blood pressure and heart rate, and better quality sleep and less fatigue during the day.

Washington, February 23: Husbands’ hostile and anti-social behaviour exacerbates symptoms of depression among their wives, says new research.

Nearly 10 percent of the US population suffers from a depressive disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Christine Proulx, professor at Michigan University (MU), who led the study, attributes some of it to marital hostility.

“In the study, husbands’ marital hostility was significantly related to increases in wives’ symptoms of depression,” said Proulx.

Hyderabad, February 22: Mata Amritanandamayi, fondly called Amma by her devotees, in her spiritual discourse, translated from Malayalam to Telugu by a devotee, stressed the need to spread love and shun selfishness .

“Today, the swine flu epidemic has spread to most parts of the world. Out of fear, many people walk around wearing masks. But none is paying attention to the more dangerous and faster spreading disease: the ego virus. Very few manage to escape this virus .

Sydney, February 22: An oat extract could boost your brain power and maintain it even unto old age, says a new study.

Researchers at the University of South Australia (USA) Nutritional Physiology Research Centre are investigating whether an oat extract can improve mental health in older adults.

“With the proportion of ageing population set to increase over the next several decades, mental disability through age-related cognitive decline looms as a major public health problem with enormous economic and social impact,” he said.

London, February 22: The new treatment for insomnia, a new study has claimed that sleeplessness may actually shrink a person’s brain.

The University of Cambridge study — the first to link insomnia to a reduction in vital grey matter — showed that those with chronic sleep problems had lower grey matter density in brain areas used to make decisions. Dr Ellemarije Altena, who led the research, said.

Ahmedabad, February 22: Five swine flu deaths have been reported in the last two days in the state, taking the total death toll to 285, health officials said. Nine fresh cases of H1N1 have been reported from across Gujarat, they added.

Washington, February 20: The quest for a cream or gel to prevent AIDS infection has narrowed to using powerful HIV pills that are already on the market, scientists say.

Health

AIDS experts have long been searching for a microbicide — a cream, gel or vaginal ring that women or men could use as a chemical shield to protect themselves from sexual transmission of the deadly and incurable virus.

Washington, February 20: The Food and Drug Administration has issued some health warnings for Asthma drugs like Advair, Symbicort, Foradil and Serevent. The FDA says that the long-acting medications should be issued with some safety restrictions in place. “The reality is the available options to treat asthma are not that great,” FDA’s director of new drugs, Dr. John Jenkins, said in a statement.

California, February 20: Researchers at 17 US medical centres plan to start using a hormone to treat serious brain injuries on a trial basis, according
to a presentation Friday at an annual US gathering of scientists.

Initial studies have showed that progesterone, a steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle and pregnancy, can cut the death rate from traumatic brain injury (TBI) in half.

Cairo, February 19: The number of H1N1 influenza patients has fallen sharply in Egypt since the start of 2010, but health officials say they are bracing for a second wave of infections.

The Health Ministry said it is recording 500 infections a week, as against 2,500 a week in December.

“We’re still on high alert,” Amr Qandeel, head of the Preventive Medicine Section at the Egyptian Health Ministry, told IRIN. “Our hospitals and labs are ready to receive patients and test samples to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread on a massive scale.”

Washington, February 19: An AIDS vaccine that appears to have worked at least partly in Thailand may only temporarily protect patients, with the effects starting to wane after a year or so, researchers reported on Thursday.

That may explain why results of the experimental vaccine have been so difficult to interpret, said Dr. Nelson Michael, a colonel at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute of Research in Maryland, who helped lead the trial,

Sydney, February 19: A urine test devised by researchers is faster, simpler and less invasive than current biopsy tests to detect kidney transplant rejections.

The first ever urine test to detect such rejections has been developed by University of Otago researchers, based on a seven-year study of New Zealand, Australian and Swiss kidney transplant patients.

This accurate test could replace the current test, an invasive biopsy procedure, says study coordinator Alex McLellan, from Otago University’s microbiology and immunology department.

New Delhi, February 19: Students have a tendency to put on weight during board exams. Doctors attribute the extra weight gain to inactivity, stress and over-eating.

“There is no physical activity to help them improve their basal metabolic rate and therefore, the weight gain,” said Dr. S.L. Yadav, associate professor, department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Dr. Yadav says the weight gain is because of stress.

London, February 18: A survey of 1,000 British schoolchildren aged between nine and 11 found that a love of electronic gadgets was leading to many missing out on vital sleep.

While most said they went to bed at 9.30pm, a quarter turned in at 10pm or later – and half said they were not getting enough sleep and wanted more.
Small boy playing computer games

Experts recommend that 10-year-olds get at least 10 hours’ sleep a night.

Lack of sleep has been linked problems with concentration and schoolwork, as well as bad behaviour and hyperactivity.

London, February 19: A small study has hinted that so called nicotine free cigarettes will help smokers to quit cigarettes. These cigarettes actually have a tiny amount of nicotine authors have reported in the journal that Addicted Smokers who used the nicotine-free cigarettes before quitting likely not to be smoking six weeks later as those who used nicotine ones.

Dr Dorothy K Hatsukami, at the University of Minnesota Tobacco informed that the cigarettes that were free from Nicotine and the lozenges successfully beat low-nicotine cigarettes.

London, February 19: Teenagers who sleep in are not lazy, they are just not getting enough sunlight in the morning, scientists say.

Adolescents spend too much time indoors and a lack of natural blue light, particularly in the morning, upsets their body clock.

Natural light is required to produce the hormone melatonin, which signals when it is time to sleep.

Researchers believe a lack of melatonin makes teenagers go to bed later. This in turn, makes them unlikely to rise early the next day.