Health Jockey

A common digestive disorder, diverticular disease is typically associated with popcorn, nuts and seeds. People with the colon disease are advised to keep off these foods so that they don’t get painful attacks. According to findings from the first large study that addresses this issue these foods may actually lower the risks of the condition.

Scientists used data from the ongoing Harvard School of Public Health study of male health professionals to examine the association of eating nuts, corn, and popcorn with diverticular disease. They analysed 47,228 study participants between the ages of 40 and 75 at enrollment. These volunteers had no history of diverticulosis, diverticulitis, or related diverticular complications. Every few years these men completed detailed questionnaires designed to examine the foods they ate and their health status.

“It is not exactly clear where this idea came from because there are no studies showing this to Read the rest of this story >>

A widely known fact is that post menopausal women need a lift in love life. So if you are one of those suffering from bedroom blues, fret not, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could just be the answer for you. A recent study suggests that even years after menopause women who undergo HRT have a better sex life. It could also help insomnia and aching joints.

Conducted on 2130 women in New Zealand, Australia and Britain, the study reveals significant benefits of HRT in the quality of life for post menopausal women. It found that women who take a combination of oestrogen and progestogen hormone therapy enjoyed a much better sex life along with improved sleep and lowered joint pain.

Lead researcher Beverley Lawton, director of the Women’s Health Research Centre at Otago University, New Zealand, commented, “There’s been a lot of fear about HRT almost approaching mythical proportions … but what this research shows is that for most women, Read the rest of this story >>

We often blame a poor diet and lack of exercise to being obese. We could be in for a surprise with a recent study that claims to have recognized a chemical in the brain that partakes in controlling appetite and obesity. The researchers reveal a significant role of this chemical in weight gain.

Recent studies in mice had discovered that the absence of a copy of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) led to overeating and obesity. BDNF is a chemical produced in the brain that is important for energy homeostasis. This finding in mice made scientists look to humans for an answer as very little is known about the part of BDNF in energy balance in humans.

Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the National Institute of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, remarked, “This is a promising new lead in the search for biological pathways that contribute to obesity. This finding may eventually Read the rest of this story >>

Scientists around the globe are constantly in search of new treatments for deafness. For the first time doctors have been successful in growing an important gene that could harbour a cure of deafness. A recent study reveals a deafness breakthrough with the new ear hair grown that should apparently boost hearing.

The study was headed by neurobiologist John Brigande of the Oregon Health and Science University, in Portland. The scientist himself is known to be hard of hearing since the age of 10. John and his team used gene therapy on mouse embryos to grow hair cells with the potential to reduce hearing loss in adult animals. Implantation of the gene known as Atoh1 into the inner ear of a mouse influenced non-sensory cells to become hair cells.

Dr. Brigande mentioned, “There is intense interest in cell replacement strategies to ameliorate the effects of inner ear disease, but until now we didn’t have direct Read the rest of this story >>

So you always thought fat is FAT, right? It’s a common notion for us to think that fat is just purely cells that can make us overweight. Surprise! A new study shows that these darn things called fat cells are actually not all created equally. The fat in obese people is ‘sick’ and ‘stressed’ as compared to fat from lean people.

A group of medical researchers from the departments of endocrinology, biochemistry and surgery, Temple University School of Medicine have found that cells in the fat tissue of obese people don’t work properly and are hence sicker than cells found in lean people.

The team led by Guenther Boden, M.D examined fat biopsies from the upper thighs of six lean and six obese patients. Finding significant differences at the cellular level, the researchers asserted that fat cells in obese people are too traumatized and hence lead to many obesity related complications. They theorize that an association between obesity and higher Read the rest of this story >>

There are people who are practical and move on with time. Then there are the ones who cry over the wounds time leaves on their soul and remain depressed for quite a long time. While we can do nothing but empathise with them, sometimes it is really hard to understand that why a person is taking longer to get out of depression.

To help us understand this, brain scientists have investigated into the subject and have found regions of the brain linked to the knowledge about social behaviour such as moral sentiments, such as pride and guilt, responsible behind this mystery.

A study was carried out by Dr Roland Zahn, a clinical neuroscientist in The University of Manchester’s School of Psychological Sciences, and his colleagues with Dr. Jordan Grafman, chief of the Cognitive Neuroscience Section, and Dr. Jorge Moll, now at the LABS-D’Or Center for Neuroscience in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the US.

Scientists Read the rest of this story >>

Stroke is one of the most dreaded health conditions as it takes away the normal life and functioning of the person stuck with it. Apparently, a stroke patient deprived of treatment in the first three hours of symptoms of the stroke can have irreversible damages done to the brain!

Now, with the help of a new technique discovered by researchers, the normal functioning of the brain can be restored in stroke patients even after months of a stroke by growing back the nerve fibers that get destroyed by the stroke!

“In the best-case scenario, this would open up the window of time that people could recover and go back to normal functional status,” said Gwendolyn Kartje, MD, Ph.D., a professor in the department of cell biology, neurobiology and anatomy and department of neurology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Ill. and chief of neuroscience research at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Ill.

The experiment was conducted Read the rest of this story >>

Here’s some good news for all you coffee lovers. A novel study by researchers at the University of Alberta shows that coffee actually boosts alertness and aids in calming the heart. It claims that even those who are not regular drinkers may get as much buzz as caffeine addicts.

Michael Kennedy, a professor and co-author of the study mentioned, “Whether you are hooked on caffeine or not, if you need a boost, coffee improves your mental alertness and can have a calming affect on your heart rate. In addition, one large coffee has more than enough caffeine to see these changes.”

He further added, “This indicates that there may be some long-term cardiovascular adjustment to digesting caffeine on a daily basis. For people at risk for high BP, if you’re a habituated coffee drinker, reducing your caffeine intake would be an effective way of potentially reducing your blood pressure.”

For the research, the team closely analysed Read the rest of this story >>

The latest study by researchers at Stanford University reveals that previously undiagnosed infections of the amniotic fluid can be an eminent cause of premature births.

The results were confirmed after researchers found bacteria or fungi in the amniotic fluid samples taken from women in pre-term labor. The team discovered that more the infection, more were the chances of the women to deliver sicker and younger infants. This indicated that levels of the bacteria also play a vital role in the risks of premature birth.

Dr. Dan DiGiulio, who worked on the study, mentioned, “If we could prevent these infections in the first place, or detect them sooner, we might one day be able to prevent some of these premature births.”

Researchers analysed 166 women at the Detroit Medical Center between October 1998 and December 2002. Using culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the amniotic fluid from women in preterm labor, the team Read the rest of this story >>

The risk of the most common type of diabetes in childhood is 20 % higher in babies delivered by caesarean section as against those born by normal deliveries. Type 1 diabetes starts early in childhood and is presently on the rise in Europe.

According to a recent study by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast children born by caesarean section have an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes than those born naturally. Led by Dr. Chris Cardwell and Dr. Chris Patterson, the team closely analysed 20 published studies from 16 countries including around 10,000 children with Type 1 diabetes and over a million control children.

Dr. Cardwell, from the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, remarked, “This study revealed a consistent 20 per cent increase in the risk of Type 1 diabetes. It is important to stress that the reason for this is still not understood. It is possible that children born by Caesarean section Read the rest of this story >>