Researchers said that past studies have found conflicting results when it comes to the effects of breastfeeding on kids’ lungs, with some research suggesting that moms with asthma who breastfeed may be putting their kids at risk as well.
But the new research hints that’s not the case, and that babies with asthmatic moms may get just as much benefit from breastfeeding, if not more, compared to those with asthma-free mothers.
"I think the evidence is that breastfeeding increases lung volume, independent of if the mother is asthmatic or not," said Dr. Wilfried Karmaus, who studies asthma at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and wasn’t involved in the new work.
"If the lung volume is increased, then you are less susceptible to get asthma," he told Reuters Health. "It’s important even to tell asthmatic mothers to breastfeed their children."
In one study, published Friday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, about 1,500 UK kids were followed from their birth in the mid-1990s.
Families responded to surveys related to breastfeeding as well as secondhand smoke exposures and other known asthma risks starting when kids were babies. At age eight to 14, the kids came into the lab for a range of lung function and allergy tests.
Dr. Claudia Kuehni from the University of Bern, Switzerland and her colleagues found that the longer kids were breastfed, the better they performed on one test, measuring the speed of air coming out of the lungs.
On two other tests, which also assess how much air the lungs can hold, breastfeeding for four months or longer was linked to better scores only in kids whose moms had asthma.
The researchers reported that the better lung function did not seem to be related to a history of fewer childhood respiratory infections -- a known benefit of breastfeeding.
Kuehni’s team said that the lung boost attributed to breastfeeding might not make a difference for a healthy kid, but on a wider scale, it could mean that breastfeeding would protect more kids from breathing problems.
One limitation of their study, the researchers noted, is that only about one-third of the kids they followed from birth and invited to do lung tests -- more than 4,000 in total -- actually participated, which could skew the results if certain types of kids were more likely to come in than others.
In the other study, from New Zealand, a second group of researchers also followed babies from birth, but instead of testing lung function they asked parents of six-year-olds if their kids had ever been diagnosed with asthma or had used an inhaler or wheezed in the last year.
With data on more than 1,000 kids, including about 200 with asthma at their last visit, a team led by Karen Silvers found that each month of exclusive breastfeeding (without any formula mixed in) was tied to a nine-percent drop in asthma risk.
Silvers, from the University of Otago in Christchurch, and her colleagues reported their findings Sunday in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Karmaus said that researchers have questioned whether breast milk might carry immune cells related to allergies and asthma from mother to baby, putting infants of asthmatic moms at risk of breathing problems -- and that some concerned mothers with asthma may avoid breastfeeding as a result.
But the new findings suggest they shouldn’t worry, he said. He hypothesized that babies’ suckling during breastfeeding may strengthen their lungs and help protect them against asthma later -- but that hasn’t been proven. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of life, continued for two years or longer.
Dr. Theresa Guilbert, a pediatric pulmonologist from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, said that despite the new findings, it’s still "controversial" whether or not asthmatic moms pass on any risk to their babies by breastfeeding. None of the studies that have been done can prove cause-and-effect one way or the other, she said, and conflicting results might be due to different samples of moms, from areas with different diets and environmental exposures.
"There’s a lot of things that breastfeeding is very, very good for," Guilbert, who wasn’t involved in the new research, told Reuters Health. "I think the jury’s still out on the risk of breastfeeding from mothers that are asthmatic."
But, she concluded, "I don’t think any of that (evidence) is now strong enough to tell moms they should stop breastfeeding... because of all the other important benefits that breastfeeding conveys to the child."
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| foxnews.com /ISTOCK |
People with psoriasis develop thick, red, scaly patches on the skin, which are often itchy or sore.
Experts believe the disease is caused by an abnormal immune system attack on the body’s own cells. Some studies have suggested that smokers are more vulnerable to psoriasis, possibly because the habit can affect immune activity. But most have studied people at only one time-point, which makes it hard to be sure the smoking came before the psoriasis.
So for the new study, researchers used data from three large, long-running studies of U.S. health professionals. Of nearly 186,000 men and women followed for 12 to 20 years, 2,410 developed psoriasis during that time. And the risk was greater among both current smokers and former smokers.
People who were current smokers at the study’s start were almost twice as likely as lifelong non-smokers to develop psoriasis. And past smokers had a 39 percent higher risk than non-smokers.
The findings, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, do not prove that smoking, itself, causes psoriasis in some people.
But it is clear that the smoking came before the psoriasis, said senior researcher Dr. Abrar A. Qureshi, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Past studies have found links between psoriasis and both obesity and heavy drinking. But after accounting for those factors, the smoking-psoriasis link remained, Qureshi told Reuters Health.
"I think if there’s one message, it’s that for now, smoking seems to be a risk factor for new-onset psoriasis," Qureshi said.
Other studies have pointed to some reasons that smoking could contribute to psoriasis -- mainly its effects on immune system activity and inflammation. Smokers, for instance, tend to have higher levels of "autoantibodies" -- immune defenses that are mistakenly aimed at the body’s own cells.
About 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation.
Type 1 psoriasis arises in teenagers and young adults, and it’s strongly related to family history of the disease. In contrast, type 2 psoriasis arises later in life, and it tends to be milder and less related to heredity.
The men and women in the current study were middle-aged to older. So it’s likely they had type 2 psoriasis, Qureshi’s team says.
As for people who already have psoriasis, the current findings don’t speak directly to whether quitting will help them, according to Qureshi.
But there are already plenty of reasons for any smoker to quit, he said.
In particular, people with psoriasis have been shown to have an increased risk of heart disease. Since smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease, Qureshi said, quitting seems especially important for people with psoriasis.
In the same way that we have friendly bacteria in our intestines, the tsetse fly harbours bacteria in its midgut, muscle and salivary glands.
Experts in Belgium have genetically modified these "good bugs" so they attack the culprit parasite carried by the fly.But work is needed to hone the process.
The latest findings are published in the open access journal Microbial Cell Factories.
Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis, is a potentially fatal disease that plagues many regions of Africa.
Although the number of people being infected with the disease has been going down thanks to better diagnosis and treatment, there were still more than 7,000 new cases recorded in 2010.
The parasite causing sleeping sickness is transmitted to humans through the bite of the infected tsetse fly.
This causes fever, headaches, aching joints and itching. Then follows the second stage of disease as the parasites cross the blood-brain barrier to infect the central nervous system.
The person then becomes confused, poorly co-ordinated and experiences the sleep disturbances which give the disease its name. Without treatment, sleeping sickness is fatal.
But current therapies often have unpleasant side-effects.
The drug most commonly used to treat the condition is a derivative of arsenic developed more than 50 years ago. And the treatment can be excruciatingly painful and potentially fatal. Often described by patients as "fire in the veins," between 5% and 20% of those treated die of complications from the injected drug. And so scientists are seeking alternatives.
The Belgium team at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp have focused on finding a way to destroy the sleeping sickness parasite - trypanosome - that the tsetse fly carries.
They found bacteria called Sodalis glossinidius, which naturally live in the fly and can be used to mount an attack from the inside. Altering the genes of the bacteria led it to release fragments of antibodies known as nanobodies against the parasite.
With more work, the researchers hope to be able to produce targeted nanobodies which could kill or block the development of trypanosome.
Dr David Horn of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said: "This is a neat and promising concept. The goal now will be to develop a deliverable toxin, not necessarily a nanobody, which exhibits anti-trypanosomal activity in the fly."
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| hellogiggles.com |
They also told a conference that grip strength in middle-age was linked to the chance of a stroke. The scientists said more studies were needed to understand what was happening. Experts said the findings raised important questions, but more research was needed. Suggestions of a link between slow walking speed and poor health have been made before.
A study, published in the British Medical Journal in 2009, said there was a "strong association" between slow walking speed and death from heart attacks and other heart problems. A Journal of the American Medical Association study suggested a link between walking faster over the age of 65 and a longer life.
Dr Erica Camargo, who conducted the latest study at the Boston Medical Centre, said: "While frailty and lower physical performance in elderly people have been associated with an increased risk of dementia, we weren’t sure until now how it impacted people of middle age."
Brain scans, walking speed and grip strength were recorded for 2,410 people who were, on average, 62 years old. Results presented at the Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting said that 11 years later, 34 people had developed dementia and 79 had had a stroke.
The researchers said slower walking speeds were linked to a higher risk of dementia and stronger grip with a lower risk of stroke. Dr Camargo said: "These are basic office tests which can provide insight into risk of dementia and stroke and can be easily performed by a neurologist or general practitioner. "Further research is needed to understand why this is happening and whether preclinical disease could cause slow walking and decreased strength."
The findings have not yet, however, been published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.
Dr Marie Janson, director of development at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: "Although this study has yet to be published in full, it does raise some important questions about whether physical problems, such as difficulty walking, could precede other symptoms associated with dementia. "Further study could shed new insight into how walking speed and dementia may be linked."
Dr Anne Corbett, research manager at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: "Before people take stock in the strength of a handshake or the speed you cross the road, more research is needed to understand why and what other factors are involved.
"The good news is that there are many things you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia. "We recommend you eat a healthy balanced diet, don’t smoke, maintain a healthy weight, take regular exercise; and get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly."
The Stroke Association’s Dr Sharlin Ahmed, said: "Around a third of those who have a stroke are left with some kind of physical disability, including hand weakness and difficulty walking. However, this is the first time we have seen research that looks at the presence of related symptoms before a stroke.
"This is an interesting study, but a lot more research is needed before we can conclude that strength of grip or walking speed can determine the risk of stroke."
Other studies have linked air pollution levels to hospital admissions and deaths from cardiovascular disease. But making that link for heart attacks has been controversial, since the research has been mixed.
In Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Hazrije Mustafic from the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center and his team in France, the U.S. and Montenegro reviewed studies on air pollutants and heart attack risk.
The breathing of pollutants from traffic such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and tiny soot-like particles for up to a week boosted heart attack risk by one to three per cent in the following week.
The size of the link was relatively small when compared to risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure, the researchers said.
Since nearly everyone in cities is exposed to the pollutants, "an improvement in air quality could have a significant effect on public health," the study's authors concluded.
As for how the pollutants could cause harm, the researchers pointed to inflammation, which is associated with heart attacks.
Source: Geo.tv
In an effort to understand how the motivation to exercise is linked to behavior, the researchers examined college students’ intentions to be physically active as well as their actual activity levels.
"Many of us set New Year’s resolutions to be more physically active, and we expect these resolutions to be stable throughout the year," said professor of kinesiology.
"One of the things we see in this study is that from week to week our motivation can change a lot, and these weekly changes in motivation can be destructive to our resolutions," he stated.
The professor Conroy and colleagues recruited 33 college students and assessed over a ten-week period both the students’ weekly intentions to be physically active and their activity levels.
During each of the ten weeks, participants were instructed to log on to a website and to rate their intentions to perform physical activity for the week ahead. To assess physical activity, participants were instructed to wear pedometers each day for the first four weeks.
The team found that for many of the participants, the motivation to exercise fluctuated on a weekly basis, and these fluctuations were linked to their behaviour.
"Our motivation to be physically active changes on a weekly basis because we have so many demands on our time," said Conroy.
"Maybe one week we’re sick or we have a work deadline-or, in the case of students, an upcoming exam. But these lapses in motivation really seem to be destructive. Our results suggest that people with consistently strong intentions to exercise have the best chance of actually following through on their intentions, while people with the greatest fluctuations in their motivation have the hardest time using that motivation to regulate their behaviour," he explained.
Conroy added that consistency of intentions is not the only thing that matters in predicting whether or not a person will be active. It also matters if it is a weekday or the weekend.
"We saw that people who consistently reported stronger intentions to be active were more active during the week, but then on weekends the pattern flipped for them. If a person was really motivated during the week, then he or she crashed on the weekend," said Conroy.
The results have been published in the current issue of the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Children exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes face a higher risk of developing attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), other behavioural problems and learning disorders.It’s difficult to confirm whether secondhand smoke causes children’s health problems because it would be unethical to expose children to smoke and watch what happens to them, Health News reported.
Instead, researchers often must look backward, as they did in this study, and try to find the cause by probable causes linking smoke exposure and illness.
Researchers examined the results of a 2007 telephone survey of American families that included 55,358 children under the age of 12 years. Six percent of them were exposed to secondhand smoke in the home.
The researchers found that about 8 percent of the children had learning disabilities, 6 percent had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and almost 4 percent had behavioral and conduct disorders.
It was found that those who lived in homes with smokers were more likely to have at least two of the conditions, even after the researchers accounted for such factors as income and education levels of parents.
The researchers estimated that secondhand smoke may be responsible for 274,100 extra cases of the three types of disorders examined. Older children, particularly those between 9 and 11 years old, boys and poor children were most at risk of developing the disorders as a result of smoke exposure.
Children with smoke exposure at home were also more likely to receive behavioural counselling or treatment, which greatly increases health care costs.
Parents should consider banning smoking from their homes. Not only are children vulnerable because of their physiology, they’re also vulnerable because they do not necessarily have the choice about being exposed to smoke or not.
This study doesn’t definitively prove that tobacco smoke can harm children’s brains, and it doesn’t say how much smoke is too much.
However, it does add to the evidence that children may be especially vulnerable to the effects of smoke exposure. They’re in a developmental stage and their body is growing, potentially putting them at greater risk of disruptions to their brains than adults.
APP/AAJ News
The researchers found that the risks of bleeding from taking an aspirin were substantial enough that its regular use for the average healthy person “cannot be supported”. Although these researchers did not dispute aspirins use for patients with a history of vascular issues.
One of the most common causes of increased bleeding risk is exposure to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The prototype for these drugs is Aspirin, which inhibits the production of thromboxane.
NSAIDs inhibit the activation of platelets, and thereby increase the risk of bleeding.
The idea of an aspirin-a-day for vascular disease is sound when you are looking at the goal, but the means is too unhealthy and dangerous according to all the studies concerning the health of the person.
ISLAMABAD: Apples are a super food that helps stop lung disease even in coal miners!.Lung disease is a very serious illness that is increasingly occurring among Americans. This also applies to people who have never smoked, but are becoming more susceptible to this disorder than ever before. A recent study revealed a superfood that is very inexpensive, and readily available year-round, that amazingly has the ability to help and could prevent lung disease.
For instance, in a recent study French researchers found a flavanoid called “phloridzin” that is only found in apples. Researchers claim phloridzin helps protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Another bone benefit from apples is boron, which strengthens bones.
Studies reported on the ability of apples to help common disorders like Heart disease, diabetes, Cancer (especially colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer), Dementia, Inflammation, Arthritis, High cholesterol, Heartburn and much more.
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| Image taken from BBC |
Reliable sources said that the researchers have for the first time generated crucial types of human brain cells in the laboratory by reprogramming skin cells, which they say could speed up the hunt for new treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and stroke.
Until now it has only been possible to generate tissue from the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain where most major neurological diseases occur, by using controversial embryonic stem cells, obtained by the destruction of an embryo.
This has meant the supply of brain tissue available for research has been limited due to the ethical concerns around embryonic stem cells and shortages in their availability.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge, however, now insist they have overcome this problem after showing for the first time that it is possible to re-programme adult human skin cells so that they develop into neurons found in the cerebral cortex.
Initially brain cells grown in this way could be used to help researchers gain a better understanding of how the brain develops, what goes wrong when it is affected by disease and it could also be used for screening new drug treatments.
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| The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the immune system |
Viruses cannot replicate on their own; they must hijack other cells and turn them into virus production factories.
A study, published in Nature Immunology, showed how some parts of the immune system destroy their own raw materials, stopping HIV.
It is uncertain whether this could be used in therapy, experts caution.
HIV attacks the immune system and can weaken the body’s defences to the point that everyday infections become fatal.
However, not all parts of the immune system become subverted to the virus’ cause. Macrophages and dendritic cells, which have important roles in orchestrating the immune response, seem to be more resistant.
A new study has found that walnuts lower LDL (or "bad") cholesterol, prevent bone loss, and even fight cancer.
Researchers fed mice with prostate tumors the human equivalent of three ounces of walnuts a day. At the conclusion of the study, the mice’s tumors shrunk by 50 percent, and tumor growth slowed by 30 percent compared to control mice.
"These results make me very hopeful that walnuts may be beneficial both in terms of avoiding cancer and slowing cancer growth and therefore should be included in a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables," said Dr. Paul Davis, lead researcher of the study. "If additional research determines that walnuts have the same effect in men as they do in mice, adhering to a diet that excludes walnuts to lower fat would mean that prostate cancer patients could miss out on the beneficial effects of walnuts."
Besides serving as a prevention and treatment intervention for prostate cancer, walnuts also demonstrably lowered the risk of heart disease by naturally decreasing levels of LDL cholesterol, also known as "bad" cholesterol, while simultaneously increasing levels of HDL cholesterol, also known as "good cholesterol."
The amazing thing about walnuts and other whole foods, though, is that no single nutrient inside them can be pinpointed and isolated as the sole beneficial factor. In explaining this very important fact, the study researchers noted in their report that "the walnut diet’s beneficial effects probably represent the effects of the whole walnuts’ multiple constituents and not via a specific fatty acid or tocopherol."
But walnuts’ benefits do not stop there. Walnuts are high in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to help prevent the type of bone loss that comes with aging. At the same time, the protein found in walnuts helps to build muscle, which is associated with stronger bones.
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| Photo: acupuncturebydawn.com |
Now, a new study reports that part of the answer may lie on the Y chromosome, the one chromosome unique to men.
In the study, published on Wednesday in The Lancet, researchers found that nearly all British men have one of two variants of a cluster of genes on their Y chromosome. Those with one of the variants had a 50 percent increased risk of heart disease compared with men with the other variant. This risk was independent of traditional factors like cholesterol, smoking and diabetes.
The study needs to be replicated, researchers say, and while it raises intriguing hypotheses, it is not definitive.
The researchers also do not yet know which individual genes in the cluster are responsible for the increased risk, nor do they know why the genes have this effect. And the study, said its lead author, Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski of the University of Leicester, does not completely explain the male disadvantage in heart disease.
But Virginia M. Miller, a heart disease researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who wrote an editorial that accompanied the paper, said in an interview that the work “puts a whole different perspective on some risk factors for heart disease in men.”
Everyone knows men who did all the wrong things — ignored their cholesterol levels, smoked — and yet were spared heart disease, Dr. Miller said. And everyone knows men who were careful about their diet, controlled their cholesterol levels and blood pressure and did not smoke, yet died young from heart attacks.
The message of the new study, Dr. Miller said, was that for some of those unlucky men, “yes indeed, they did have inheritable factors that independently caused death.” And when a screening test is developed to find those Y chromosome gene clusters and researchers have a better understanding of how they act, it may be possible to protect some of them from having heart attacks.
Dr. Tomaszewski and his colleagues found the Y chromosome gene association by looking at men in two large British heart disease studies. He said he and his colleagues were surprised by the magnitude of increase in risk for men with one of two genetic clusters.
Dr. Daniel J. Rader, a heart disease researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said it was also possible that simply having a Y chromosome instead of two X chromosomes, as women have, increased heart disease risk. The extra X could be protective.
Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said it was strange that there had been almost no study of the Y chromosome’s effect on heart disease. Although the reasons were technical, having to do with the way gene searches were done, ignoring the Y, he said, “was a little bit of an oversight.”
Heart disease researchers have generally ignored the role of the Y chromosome, assuming it was mostly involved in determining maleness, Dr. Tomaszewski said. He suggested the cluster of genes on the Y chromosome of the men with lower risk may help control inflammation, a process that is part of the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.
Others were less convinced. “A lot more work needs to be done” on the gene cluster, Dr. Rader said.
Dr Kathiresan said the association between the gene cluster and heart disease risk needed to be confirmed.
The oil from the seeds is the part used in medicine, and has been found useful for everything from eczema and osteoporosis to PMS.
The leaves and bark are sedative and astringent, and were used in Native American medicine for stomach, liver and female complaints. Folk medicine used the plant to treat hangovers. European settlers in the New World, named it “King’s Cure-All,” and used it to treat skin diseases.
One of the active ingredients in evening primrose oil is gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), and Evening Primrose is one of the few plants to contain this important fatty acid. Borage also contains gamma-linolenic acid. GLA functions by helping production of prostaglandins (PFE1). Prostaglandins help reduce inflammation. Prostaglandins are important for many other body functions as well, including the clotting of blood, and cholesterol production. The body can manufacture gamma-linolenic acid if it has adequate supply of one of the essential fatty acids: linolenic acid. But this mechanism is frequently stalled as a result of dietary deficiencies, insufficient enzymes and too much intake of processed, saturated fat. The oil contains about 280 mg. of GLA in 2,600 mg. of the oil, which is considered the basic therapeutic dose.
Many health conditions are known to benefit from gamma-linolenic acid, including allergies, multiple sclerosis, fibrocystic breast disease, arthritis, and even depression.
Evening Primrose oil has also shown effectiveness in treating alcoholism and for weight control. The oil reduces withdrawal symptoms from alcohol as well as depression. In weight control, the oil stimulates brown fat tissue to burn more calories.
Skin Health: A study conducted at the Samsung Medical Center School of Medicine in Korea showed evening primrose oil to be highly effective in treating eczema. Dermatitis patients suffering from dry, itchy, and scaly skin displayed less pruritus and lesions when supplemented with evening primrose oil. The study determined that evening primrose oil is effective in treating non-inflammatory dermatitis, acne, psoriasis, as well as eczema.
Heart Health: Evening primrose oil has been shown to reduce high serum cholesterol and to lower blood pressure. The mechanism is via the gamma-linolenic acid’s ability to inhibit blood clots and reduce risk of spasms in the arteries, both of which contribute to heart attacks or strokes. Lowered levels of PGE1 lead to elevated cholesterol levels, and even changes in the blood sugar levels that cause diabetes-like symptoms.
Hyperactivity in Children: A study with evening primrose oil in children showed its effectiveness in treating hyperactivity. Two-thirds of the children in the study showed improvement in their school behavior after supplementation with evening primrose oil. The supplementation was given orally and on the skin, and some of the best results were found when the oil was rubbed onto the childrens’ skin. Researchers surmise that this method of administering the oil was more effective because it overrode any issues of indigestion or malnutrition.
Immune System: Another interesting function of GLA is in its ability to aid immune response. GLA and other essential fatty acids are part of the chain of nutrients that create interferons. Interferons (IFNs) are proteins that are created by the cells to fight viruses.
Fertility and PMS: Evening primrose oil has a marked effect on the female hormonal system. Low levels of GLA have been shown to trigger symptoms of PMS, and the oil has been touted as a fertility aid, because it encourages the production of cervical mucus, which can assist fertilization. It has also been prescribed to lower the risk of preeclampsia and eclampsia in pregnancy.
Mild side effects of evening primrose oil consumption can include nausea, diarrhea, and headaches. People taking blood-thinning drugs should avoid evening primrose oil, as well as those who are pregnant or who are taking drugs for epilepsy or schizophrenia, because of possible drug interactions.
WASHINGTON: US scientists on Wednesday reported a new advance in using gene therapy to restore eyesight in people with a rare, inherited form of blindness.The therapy, which had been previously tried in just one eye of 12 people, worked well when injected into the other eye of three of the patients, offering a sign that the treatment is safe, effective and will not be rejected by the body.
"Our concern was that the first treatment might cause a vaccine-like immune response that could prime the individual's immune system to react against a repeat exposure," said lead author Jean Bennett, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Despite the risks, three adult patients from the initial study -- whose results were published in 2009 showing that some level of vision had been restored in all of them and six were no longer legally blind -- agreed to try the therapy in their untreated eye.
The trio were all better able to see in dim light afterward, and two were able to navigate obstacles in low-light situations. There were no reports of ill side-effects.
The study appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"Patients have told us how their lives have changed since receiving gene therapy," said Bennett. "They are able to walk around at night, go shopping for groceries and recognize people's faces -- all things they couldn't do before."
The revolutionary treatment targets a disease of light-catching retinal cells called Leber's congenital amaurosis, or LCA.
Caused by flaws in any one of around 13 key genes, LCA triggers severe loss of vision and abnormal eye movements in early infancy, usually leading to total blindness in the twenties or thirties.
Bennett and colleagues tested a way of tackling the disease by inserting a corrective gene in a disabled cold virus.
The modified virus was injected into the eyeball, and infected the diseased cells -- in effect, acting like a Trojan horse to deliver the right DNA to the retina.
Twelve patients aged eight to 44 years were recruited in the small, experimental study, and were given the treatment in the eye that had the worst vision.
None of the patients recovered normal sight, but all of them had an at-least 100-fold increase in so-called pupillary light response, meaning the constriction of the pupil when exposed to light.
Six of the 12 recovered sufficient sight that meant they may no longer be classified as legally blind.
The best results were among four children aged eight, nine, 10 and 11.
Their first study was published by The Lancet in 2009.
Gene medicine is one of the most alluring areas of biotechnology, offering the theoretical promise of blocking or reversing inherited disease.
But this new frontier has also been hit by occasional setbacks, notably an unexpected or uncontrollable response from the immune system.
The pioneering treatment for LCA, though, has so far had no side effects and its benefits have remained unchanged years later, say the researchers.
More research is needed before the therapy can be confirmed safe, but the latest findings bode well for trying it in more of the initial subjects, particularly the youngest ones whose retinas have not degenerated as much as those of the adults. (AFP)
The study found breastfeeding strengthens children’s lungs, even if the mother has asthma.
: the most common chronic childhood illness, says the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Nine million children younger than 18 have been diagnosed with asthma. One in 10 school-age children has asthma and it is the third-leading cause of hospitalization in kids.
Physicians said at the time that though this represented a significant drop in lung functioning, it was probably not enough to warrant health care providers advising asthmatic mothers to limit breastfeeding to four months to avoid risk.
study in the European Respiratory Journal showed formula-fed babies had a 50 percent more wheezing episodes than babies who were exclusively breastfed until age six months. Babies who were given supplemental foods along with breast milk had a 20 percent greater risk for wheezing.
The ARJCCM study revisited the 2007 and the 2011 findings to look for further links between breastfeeding and asthma, particularly in children whose mothers who had the disease and breastfed. 1,500 children were tested periodically up to age 14. Parents were also surveyed about breastfeeding habits, exposure to secondhand smoke and other environmental risks.
The tests found children who were breastfed showed greater lung volume, less air loss and better capacity to hold air. Children of mothers with asthma were able to hold more air if moms had breastfed them past age four months. Study authors said the findings weren’t linked to fewer respiratory infections, but that stronger lungs meant less risk of developing asthma later.
According to Web MD, the AJRCCM conducted a long-term Children’s Respiratory Study in 2007 in which kids were followed from birth through age 16 and periodically tested for lung functioning.
Children of mothers without asthma who were breastfed longer than four months had stronger lung functioning. But children whose moms had asthma and were breastfed beyond 4 months showed a 6 percent decrease in lung strength.
Among key risk factors for cancer are tobacco and alcohol consumption, a diet low in fruit and vegetable intake and lack of physical activity.
"Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer causing 22 percent of global cancer deaths and 71 percent of global lung cancer deaths," the UN health agency said.
Halting tobacco use, for instance, could therefore help cut cancer mortality rates.
According to latest available figures dating to 2008, cancer caused 7.6 million deaths worldwide during the year, making up about 13 percent of global mortality.
Lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancers caused the most fatalities.
About 70 percent of all cancer deaths in 2008 occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
The WHO projected that deaths from cancer will continue rising, and will hit an estimated 13.1 million in 2030.
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| cbc.ca |
Writing in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, researchers said they found strong evidence of a link between exercise and academic performance.
The review looked at 14 studies involving more than 12,000 children.
Exercise may help by increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain, it said.
But the authors of the study, from VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, said more accurate and reliable measurement instruments were needed to examine the link in greater detail.
Dr Amika Singh and colleagues were SNompted to look at the relationship between physical activity and academic performance because of concerns that SNessure to imSNove children’s school marks could mean they spend more time in the classroom and less time doing physical activity.
So the authors identified 10 observational and four interventional studies for review.
Twelve of the studies were conducted in the United States, one in Canada and one in South Africa. Sample sizes ranged from 53 to about 12,000 participants between the ages of six and 18 years.
“Children who learn to participate in sport also learn to obey rules. This may mean they are more disciplined and able to concentrate...”, Dr Amika Singh.
The period of follow-up varied between eight weeks and more than five years. Two of the studies reviewed were rated as being of high quality, the study says.
Researchers said they found strong evidence of a "significant positive relationship" between physical activity and academic performance using those two studies as evidence.
The study said this could be because exercise helps cognition by increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain.
Physical activity could also reduce stress and imSNove mood, making children more likely to behave in the classroom.
Dr Singh said: "Children who learn to participate in sport also learn to obey rules. This may mean they are more disciplined and able to concentrate better during lessons."
The researchers said more studies examining the exact relationship between physical activity and academic performance were needed.
"People always ask, ’How much exercise do I need to do to get an A?’ We don’t know that but we would like to find out," said Dr Singh.
"Children should be active for at least one hour a day, for health reasons. But we also need to look at other things, like what kind of activities they should do, when they should do them and for how long."
Reliable and valid measurement instruments were also required to assess the relationship accurately, the study added.
No study in their systematic review used an objective measure of physical activity. Many of the studies required children or their parents to note down how much exercise they were doing.
Instead, the British Liver Trust says drinkers should make a decision to stay off alcohol for a few days every week throughout the whole year.
Experts agree that a short period of complete abstinence will not imSNove liver health.
A longer-term attitude to alcohol is more desirable, the charity said.
Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said that people tend to believe the hype about rejuvenating their liver by detoxing in January.
"People think they’re virtuous with their health by embarking on a liver detox each January with the belief that they are cleansing their liver of excess following the festive break.
“Detoxing can lead to a false sense of security and feeds the idea that you can abuse your liver as much as you like,” said Dr Mark Wright.
A one-hit, one-month attempt to achieve long-term liver health is not the way to apSNoach it.
"You’re better off making a resolution to take a few days off alcohol a week throughout the entire year than remaining abstinent for January only."
The thinking behind this apSNoach is that total alcohol intake per person is kept down and the liver is given time to recover each week.
SNoviding the liver has no lasting damage, it can repair itself very quickly, taking as little as 24 hours to go back to normal. Dr Mark Wright, consultant hepatologist at Southampton General Hospital, said detoxing created its own SNoblems.
"Detoxing for just a month in January is medically futile. It can lead to a false sense of security and feeds the idea that you can abuse your liver as much as you like and then sort everything else with a quick fix.
"It makes about as much sense as maxing out your credit cards and overdraft all year, then thinking you can fix it by just eating toast in January. The figures just don’t stack up," said Dr Wright.
The British Liver Trust is launching a campaign called ’Love Your Liver’ to encourage people to maintain a healthy liver. As part of the campaign, it also advises eating well and exercising regularly.
"If you are overweight you increase your risk of liver disease by three times if you drink alcohol too.
"Cutting down on your daily food indulgences and not overloading on sugary drinks will all help to optimise your liver function," the Trust’s website says.