May 21-26, 2009

Japan, San Marino top life expectancy league

Yahoo News, 2 hrs 27 mins ago
GENEVA – The World Health Organization says women in Japan have the highest life expectancy in the world with 86 years.
WHO says men in San Marino have the longest life expectancy for their sex with 81 years.
The Geneva-based body says men from Sierra Leone are expected to live only 39 years. Women in Afghanistan will live to an average age of 42 years.
WHO says the figures are based on statistics gathered from 2007, the latest year available.
The global health agency says countries including Angola, Eritrea and Liberia have made remarkable progress while others including Botswana, Kenya and Lesotho have seen a drop in life expectancy since 1990.
The figures were among more than 100 health trends published Thursday by the World Health Organization.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_he_me/un_who_life_expectancy/print

AP poll: Many students stressed, some depressed

By NANCY BENAC and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers Nancy Benac And Trevor Tompson, Associated Press Writers Thu May 21, 6:05 am ET
WASHINGTON – Got stress? Oh, yeah, college students say, what with roommates, GPAs, student loans and all the rest.
But where's the line between feeling simply stressed and being truly depressed?
Eighty-five percent of college students surveyed in an Associated Press-mtvU poll reported feeling stressed in their daily lives in recent months: Worries about grades, school work, money and relationships were the big culprits.
At the same time, 42 percent said they had felt down, depressed or hopeless several days during the past two weeks, and 13 percent showed signs of being at risk for at least mild depression, based on the students' answers to a series of questions that medical practitioners use to diagnose depressive illness.
These students complained of trouble sleeping, having little energy or feeling down or hopeless — and most hadn't gotten professional help. Eleven percent had had thoughts that they'd be better off dead or about hurting themselves.
That's not just a case of the blues to be shrugged off by taking a break with Facebook or going for a workout.
Kristin Potts, who graduated from Penn State last week with a 4.0 in chemistry and will go on for a master's, says she's seen warning signs among fellow classmates.
"I had a couple friends who didn't come out of their rooms very much," she said. "I tried my hardest not to be like that, but I definitely saw it."
At the University of Maryland in College Park, students were sobered by two suicides within two weeks this past semester.
"It was pretty scary," says Aimee Mayer, a junior studying psychology. She says there's lots of information and help available for students with mental disorders, but "there's still a stigma associated with mental health issues and so a lot of people don't want to go to those services. They feel like they're less cool or something like that if they go. It's like a sign of vulnerability."
Megan Salame, a sophomore studying civil engineering at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., says she'd turn first to her parents if she felt depressed. But she hastened to add, "Depressed — I don't really like to use that word because it sounds so negative."
Mental health disorders like depression typically begin relatively early in life, doctors say, and college is a natural time for symptoms to emerge.
The AP-mtvU poll surveyed students at 40 U.S. colleges, exploring the students' state of mind and the pressures they face, including strains from the tough economy. It found substantial numbers of students with symptoms of depression, many of them failing to receive professional help. Among the poll results:
• Nine percent of students were at risk of moderate to severe depression. That's in line with a recent medical study that found 7 percent of young people had depression.
• Almost a quarter of those with a parent who had lost a job during the school year showed signs of at least mild depression, more than twice the percentage of those who hadn't had a parent lose a job. More than twice as many students whose parents had lost a job said they had seriously considered ending their own life, 13 percent to 5 percent.
• Among those who reported serious symptoms of moderate depression or worse, just over a quarter had ever been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
• More than half of those who reported having seriously considered suicide at some point in the previous year had not received any treatment or counseling.
• Just a third of those with moderate symptoms of depression or worse had received any support or treatment from a counselor or mental health professional since starting college.
• Nearly half of those diagnosed with at least moderate symptoms weren't familiar with counseling resources on campus.
Anne Marie Albano, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University, said college is a "tender age" developmentally, a period when young adults start taking responsibility for their lives. They're selecting careers, moving toward financial independence, establishing long-term relationships, perhaps marrying, having children.
The most troubling thing coming out of the AP-mtvU poll and other studies of young adults dealing with depression, she said, is that "they don't get help" at a time when they're just venturing off on their own.
"They have to learn to become their own monitors about their mental health and yet they have no training to do that," she said.
Alison Malmon, whose older brother, Brian, committed suicide when she was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000, decided to do something about it. After searching unsuccessfully for a group that she could bring to campus that would encourage students to talk about mental health issues and seek help, Malmon created Open Minds. That group has grown into the nonprofit Active Minds, with chapters on more than more than 200 campuses.
Malmon, 27, executive director of the nonprofit, says students don't have to worry about how to draw the line between everyday blues and clinical depression.
"You don't need to have a serious, diagnosable depression to go talk to someone," she said. "If you feel down or if you feel like you're not yourself, go talk to somebody about it."
The AP-mtvU poll found that 84 percent of students said they'd know where to turn for help if they were in serious emotional distress or thinking about hurting themselves. Most said they'd go first to friends or family. Twenty percent said they'd try school counseling.
That means it may be up to friends and family to guide students toward professional help where warranted, said Malmon.
Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health, said students need to understand that depression is "a very treatable illness." Campus counseling centers are a good resource, he said, although they're not all set up take care of serious mental illnesses.
"There should be somebody there who could at least assess this, and in some cases offer reassurance that 'I'm sure you'll feel better after exams are over,'" he said. Serious cases can be referred for treatment, he said — "and treatment works."
Depressive disorders afflict an estimated 9.5 percent of adult Americans in a given year, or about 20.9 million people. The median age for onset is 30.
According to the mental health institute, the first step to getting appropriate treatment is to visit a doctor. Certain medications and medical conditions, such as viruses or a thyroid disorder, can cause the same symptoms as depression. If doctors rule out a medical cause, then they should conduct a psychological evaluation or refer the patient to a mental health professional.
The poll was conducted April 22 to May 4 by Edison Media Research and involved interviews with 2,240 undergraduate students ages 18-24 at four-year colleges. To protect privacy, the schools where the poll was conducted are not being identified, the students who responded were not asked for their names and people interviewed for this story were not part of the survey. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The TV network mtvU is operated by the MTV Networks division of Viacom and available at many colleges. MtvU's sponsorship of the poll is related to its mental-health campaign "Half of Us," which it runs with the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit group that works to reduce suicide among young people.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090521/ap_on_re_us/us_college_poll_depression

Do Perfectionists Face Early Deaths? New Study Suggests Yes

By Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com
Posted on May 21, 2009, Printed on May 21, 2009

Perfectionism, as a way of life, tends to be self-defeating. New research suggests it may also be deadly.
That's the conclusion of a Canadian study of senior citizens just published in the Journal of Health Psychology. Researchers conducted psychological tests on 450 elderly residents of southern Alberta, and then kept tabs on them for 6½ years. During that period, just over 30 percent of the subjects, who ranged in age from 65 to 87, died.
Perfectionists — that is, those who expressed "a strong motivation to be perfect" and revealed a tendency toward "all or nothing thinking" — were approximately 51 percent more likely to have died during the life of the study than those with more reasonable self-expectations. Those who were rated high on neuroticism — for instance, those who reported often feeling tense — did even worse: Their risk of death nearly doubled compared with those with a more relaxed disposition.
In contrast, "risk of death was significantly lower for high scorers in conscientiousness, extraversion and optimism," reports lead author Prem S. Fry, a research psychologist at British Columbia's Trinity Western University. She notes that previous research has found that "perfectionism exerts a great deal of stress on health," while optimism "is viewed as a stress-alleviating factor."
"In short, our findings confirmed that conscientiousness and extraversion are health-related dimensions that are enabling in their effects, and perfectionism and neuroticism are disabling," she concludes. "It is noteworthy that these associations endure well into late life."
The findings have interesting implications for seniors' health care providers and caregivers. They suggest physicians and family members are well-advised to be vigilant in noticing perfectionist tendencies, and understanding of the physical and psychological toll they can take.
The desire to pursue a favorite task or hobby at the same high level one achieved in previous years is very understandable, and in many ways commendable. But at the same time, it's important to be cognizant of the stress such an effort can produce and the negative health effects that can result.
Tom Jacobs is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years experience at daily newspapers. He has served as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Santa Barbara News-Press. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Ventura County Star.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/
140159/do_perfectionists_face_early_deaths_new_study_suggests_yes/

LIFE EXTENSIONS May 20, 2009

Vitamin D may slow asthma progression

In a presentation on May 20, 2009 at the American Thoracic Society's 105th International Conference held in San Diego, Gautam Damera, PhD of the University of Pennsylvania reported that supplementation with a form of vitamin D could retard the decline in the ability to breathe that occurs with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Dr Damera and colleagues compared the effects of calcitriol, the type of vitamin D that is synthesized in the body, and dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid used to treat asthma, on airway muscle cells derived from 12 asthmatic and nonasthmatic subjects. Human airway smooth muscle cells proliferate in asthma in a process known as airway remodeling, which reduces lung function.
The team discovered that calcitriol decreased growth-factor-induced human airway smooth muscle cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner in cells derived from both asthmatics and nonasthmatics, while dexamethasone had little effect. In another experiment, the researchers found that calcitriol helped reduce proinflammatory cytokine secrections and may also retard airway remodeling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Dr Damera believes that calcitriol’s mechanism may be that of inhibiting the activation of proteins responsible for cell-cycle progression. "Calcitriol has recently earned prominence for its anti-inflammatory effects, but our study is the first to reveal the potent role of calcitriol in inhibiting airway smooth muscle proliferation," Dr Damera announced.
The researchers plan to conduct a randomized trial of calcitriol in patients with severe asthma as part of the University of Pennsylvania's Airway Biology Initiative. “Calcitriol may offer a unique therapeutic approach in the management of diseases characterized by increased airway smooth muscle mass that include asthma and COPD,” the researchers conclude.
http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2009_05.htm#vitamin-D-may-slow-asthma-progression

Triglycerides tied to diabetes nerve loss

United Press International 05-21-09
ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 20, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Monitoring blood fat levels as closely as blood sugar may help stem diabetic neuropathy, U.S. researchers suggest.
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University in Michigan analyzed data from 427 diabetes patients with neuropathy -- tingling, numbness, burning and pain -- and found those with higher blood triglycerides were more likely to develop a worsening of nerve loss symptoms within the year.
"These results set the stage for clinicians to be able to address lowering lipid counts with their diabetes patients with neuropathy as vigilantly as they pursue glucose control," Dr. Eva Feldman of the University of Michigan Medical School, who was the study's senior author, said in a statement.
"Aggressive treatment can be very beneficial to patients in terms of their neuropathy."
Feldman says people can reduce blood triglyceride levels with the same measures that reduce cholesterol levels, such as avoiding harmful fats in the diet and exercising regularly.
The findings are published in the journal Diabetes.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8288&Section=Disease

New Health Alert Over Drinking Lots of Cola

Birmingham Post 05-21-09
Experts have issued a warning against drinking large quantities of cola, saying it could lead to muscle problems, an irregular heartbeat and bone weakness.
The number of cola lovers suffering health issues is on the rise, they said, adding there had been a food industry push towards an "increase in portion sizes".
As well as tooth decay, diabetes and "softening" of the bones, doctors have seen patients suffering from hypokalaemia where potassium levels in the blood drop too low.
This can increase the risk of muscle problems and heart rhythm abnormalities, which could prove fatal in some cases.
"We are consuming more soft drinks than ever before and a number of health issues have already been identified including tooth problems, bone demineralisation and the development of metabolic syndrome and diabetes," said Dr Moses Elisaf, from the University of Ioannina in Greece, who led an academic review of the issue.
"Evidence is increasing to suggest that excessive cola consumption can also lead to hypokalaemia, in which the blood potassium levels fall, causing an adverse effect on vital muscle functions." His study, published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, detailed cases where patients drank two or more litres of cola a day.
In one case, a 21-year-old pregnant woman was admitted to the hospital suffering tiredness, loss of appetite and repeated vomiting. The patient had consumed more than three litres of cola per day for the previous six years and was found to be suffering from severe hypokalaemia and a heart blockage.
Once she was taken off cola and given potassium replacement substances, she made a full recovery.
Other case studies of people drinking between two and nine litres of cola a day found they suffered muscle problems ranging from "mild weakness to profound paralysis".
The authors said their findings were relevant because we now live in an era when the food industry sells drinks in large sizes.
One theory is that the sugar content of cola could lead the kidneys to excrete too much potassium, while another is that the caffeine content of cola leads to a redistribution of potassium in the body's cells or increased excretion from the body.
The most common ingredients in cola drinks are glucose, fructose and caffeine, Dr Elisaf said.
"The individual role of each of these ingredients in the pathophysiology of cola-induced hypokalaemia has not been determined and may vary," he added. "However, in most of the cases we looked at for our review, caffeine intoxication was thought to play the most important role.
"This has been borne out by case studies that focus on other products that contain high levels of caffeine but no glucose or fructose. Despite this, caffeine-free cola products can also cause hypokalaemia because the fructose they contain can cause diarrhoea."
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8290&Section=Nutrition

Why Do People With Down Syndrome Have Less Cancer? Research in Mice and Human Stem Cells Suggests New Therapeutic Targets

AScribe Newswire 05-21-09
BOSTON, May 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Most cancers are rare in people with Down syndrome, whose overall cancer mortality is below 10 percent of that in the general population. Since they have an extra copy of chromosome 21, it's been proposed that people with Down syndrome may be getting an extra dose of one or more cancer-protective genes. The late cancer researcher Judah Folkman, MD, founder of the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston, popularized the notion that they might be benefiting from a gene that blocks angiogenesis, the development of blood vessels essential for cancer's growth, since their incidence of other angiogenesis-related diseases like macular degeneration is also lower. A study from Children's confirms this idea in mice and human cells and identifies specific new therapeutic targets for treating cancer.
Publishing online May 20 in the journal Nature, cancer researcher Sandra Ryeom, PhD, and colleagues from Children's Vascular Biology Program show that a single extra copy of Dscr1 (one of the 231 genes on chromosome 21 affected by trisomy, with three copies rather than two) is sufficient to significantly suppress angiogenesis and tumor growth in mice, as well as angiogenesis in human cells. The team also found its protein, DSCR1, to be elevated in tissues from people with Down syndrome and in a mouse model of the disease.
Further study confirmed that DSCR1 acts by suppressing signaling by the angiogenesis-promoting protein vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In a mouse model of Down syndrome, endothelial cells (which make up blood vessel walls) showed a decreased growth response to VEGF when they had an extra copy of Dscr1. An extra copy of another chromosome 21 gene, Dyrk1A, also appeared to decrease cells' response to VEGF.
Finally, Ryeom and colleagues showed that these extra genes suppress VEGF signaling via a specific signaling pathway inside endothelial cells -- the calcineurin pathway. Until now, Ryeom says, little has been known about the internal pathways VEGF activates once it binds to cellular receptors; most existing anti-VEGF drugs work by simply binding to VEGF (like Avastin) or blocking its ability to bind to its cellular receptors.
"We're now moving further downstream by going inside the cell," Ryeom says. "When we targeted calcineurin, we suppressed the ability of endothelial cells to grow and form vessels. While it's likely not the only pathway that's involved, if you take it out, VEGF is only half as effective."
Ryeom and her group next validated the mouse findings in human cells. In collaboration with George Daley, MD, PhD, and colleagues in the Stem Cell program at Children's, she worked with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) created from skin cells from a patient with Down syndrome -- one of 10 disease-specific lines recently developed in Daley's lab.
Knowing that iPS cells tend to induce tumors known as teratomas when inserted into mice, Ryeom guessed that teratomas grown from iPS cells with an extra chromosome 21 would have far fewer blood vessels than teratomas from iPS cells with the normal number of chromosomes. She was right: blood vessels budded in the Down teratomas, but never fully formed.
"The studies in the iPS cells helped validate and confirm that the suppression of angiogenesis that we saw in mouse models also holds true in humans," says Ryeom. "It suggests that these two genes might point to a viable cancer therapy."
Ryeom's group has identified which part of the DSCR1 protein blocks calcineurin and is testing to see whether that fragment can be delivered specifically to endothelial cells, to prevent them from forming new blood vessels, without affecting calcineurin pathways in other cells and causing side effects. "Immunosuppressive drugs also target calcineurin in T-cells," Ryeom notes. "We think that Dscr1 blocks calcineurin specifically in endothelial cells, without affecting T-cells, but we need to check."
Folkman's interest in why patients with Down syndrome have such a reduced risk for cancer focused on endostatin, an anti-angiogenic compound made by the body. Discovered in the Folkman lab, endostatin is a fragment of collagen 18 -- whose gene is also on chromosome 21. People with Down syndrome reportedly have almost doubled levels of endostatin because of the extra copy of the gene.
"I think there may be four or five genes on chromosome 21 that are necessary for angiogenesis suppression," says Ryeom. "In huge databases of cancer patients with solid tumors, there are very few with Down syndrome. This suggests that protection from chromosome 21 genes is pretty complete."
The study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (supporting George Daley, MD, PhD); as well as the Smith Family Medical Foundation, the Garrett B. Smith Foundation and Annie's Fun Foundation (supporting Sandra Ryeom, PhD). Kwan-Hyuck Baek, PhD, of Children's Vascular Biology program was the paper's first author.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8289&Section=Disease

E for emerging nutrient? The growth of vitamin E tocotrienols

Nutraingredients.com, 20-May-2009

Vitamin E tocotrienols are slowing coming out of the shadow of tocopherols. Stephen Daniells talks to Dr Barrie Tan from American River Nutrition, about new sources of tocotrienols, new entrants to the market, and where the health benefits lie.
Speaking at Vitafoods 2009 in Geneva about vitamin E tocotrienols, Dr Tan explained the differences between vitamin E in its tocopherol and tocotrienol form.
“In terms of benefits to the body, [tocotrienols] would protect a larger area of membrane in a cell, than a tocopherol that stays stationary in one place.”
Awareness of the tocotrienol form of vitamin E tocotrienols, obtained from palm, rice oil, or annatto, is increasing slowly, and clear health benefits are emerging.
“Scientists are making points to differentiate functions of tocotrienols to those of tocopherols. The three areas that delineate the tocotrienol functions from tocopherols are cancer, cardiovascular benefits, and diabetes.
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/E-for-emerging-nutrient-The-growth-of-vitamin-E-tocotrienols

Kava extract may safely treat anxiety: study
Last Updated: 2009-05-20 13:00:49 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A particular form of the herbal remedy kava may safely ease anxiety symptoms in some people, a small study suggests.
Kava, a member of the pepper family, is native to the islands of the South Pacific, where the dried roots of the plant have long been used to make a traditional beverage. In the West, kava extracts have been promoted as a way to reduce anxiety, promote sleep and relax the muscles.
However, reports of liver damage linked to kava supplements led the UK, Europe and Canada to ban the herb in 2002. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to be cautious about using kava-containing products.
For the new study, published in the journal Psychopharmacology, Australian researchers tested the effects of a particular water-soluble kava extract currently sold in that country.
Research suggests that the liver risk linked to kava supplements may be related to some products' formulation; many supplements are alcohol-based extracts that contain plant parts not used in traditional kava preparations.
The water-soluble, or "aqueous," extract used in the current study was derived from the peeled rootstock of a medicinal cultivar of kava, and may therefore be safer, lead researcher Jerome Sarris, a doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland, told Reuters Health.
To test the product, Sarris and his colleagues had 60 adults with chronic anxiety symptoms take either the kava pills or placebo pills for one week. During the second treatment week, placebo patients were switched to kava and kava patients to placebo.
Warwick, Australia-based MediHerb Pty Ltd supplied the kava extract.
In general, the study found, patients' anxiety symptoms declined on the kava extract, as did depression symptoms in some. There were no signs of liver toxicity or other serious side effects, according to the researchers.
More studies should now investigate water-soluble kava supplements for treating anxiety disorders, according to Sarris.
"There is to my knowledge no documented evidence of liver toxicity using the traditional kava method -- correct cultivar, peeled rootstock and using a water extraction method," he noted.
For now, Sarris said, consumers who want to try the herbal remedy could consider getting a liver function test first, and use the product under the supervision of a health professional. It is also best, he added, not to mix kava with alcohol or any other medications.
SOURCE: Psychopharmacology, online May 9, 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/20/eline/links/20090520elin001.html

Stem cells "seek and destroy" cancer cells: study
Last Updated: 2009-05-20 10:00:57 -0400 (Reuters Health)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Genetically engineered stem cells from bone marrow showed promise as a potential new way to deliver a cancer-killing protein to tumors, British researchers said on Tuesday.
Experiments in cell cultures and in mice showed the adult stem cells -- a type known as mesenchymal stem cells -- could home in on cancer cells and deliver a lethal protein that attacked only the cancer while sparing normal healthy tissue.
"We've developed cells which specifically target cancer through the body and deliver an anti-cancer protein to where it is needed in a seek-and-destroy approach," said Dr. Michael Loebinger of University College London, who presented his findings at the American Thoracic Society conference in San Diego.
"Essentially, we've combined two pieces of research. The first is that mesenchymal stem cells have an innate ability to seek out tumors throughout the body," Loebinger said in a telephone interview.
Loebinger, Dr. S. M. Janes and colleagues altered the cells to express or make the cancer-killing protein called TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand or TRAIL.
"This protein has the ability to cause the death only of cancer cells. By combining these two approaches, we have a cell which has the ability to go around the body and find and destroy tumors," Loebinger said.
Studies in cell cultures showed the cells were able to find and kill cells from lung, squamous, breast and cervical cancer. "Lots of cancers have sensitivity to this TRAIL protein," Loebinger said.
They also injected the cells into mice with breast tumors and showed they were able to safely kill the tumors but leave healthy tissue intact.
"When we delivered this therapy, 38 percent of the tumors were completely eliminated."
He said the goal would be to develop a cell-based cancer treatment for humans that specifically targets cancer cells.
An attractive property of these cells is that they are "immunoprivileged," meaning the body will not reject them as foreign invaders. That means they can be made in batches instead of having to make custom stem cell treatments for each patient, Loebinger said.
He said a number of safety studies would be needed, but the team hopes human trials could begin in two or three years.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/20/eline/links/20090520elin006.html

Positive body image not always a good thing
Last Updated: 2009-05-20 13:00:58 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While a poor body image can be harmful, some women's health may be threatened by an overly positive perception of their shape and size, a study suggests.
In a study of 81 inner-city, mostly minority women, researchers found that while two-thirds of the women were overweight or obese, many seemed to see themselves as thinner.
When shown silhouettes depicting various body types, 70 percent of the women chose a normal-weight or moderately overweight figure as being closest to their own. Only five of the 31 obese women chose a silhouette that correlated with their actual weight and shape.
In addition, 20 percent of obese women selected an obese silhouette as their "ideal" body type, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The findings suggest that many heavy women may be in the dark about their health risks, according to the researchers.
"So the question for doctors then becomes, 'How can we effectively treat our overweight and obese patients, when they don't feel they're in harm's way?'" senior researcher Dr. Marisa Rose, of Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, said in a statement from the university.
The findings, from a group of mostly African-American and Hispanic women seen at Temple's family planning clinic, add to evidence that many overweight minority women may see themselves as normal-weight.
The current study, according to Rose, "stresses a need for culturally sensitive education for this population."
That means understanding a woman's lifestyle habits from a social and economic perspective, and giving advice in a way that will be most likely to persuade her to change, she told Reuters Health.
"For example," Rose said, "some inner-city African-American women have a diet heavily based on fried food and/or fast food. This diet is deeply rooted in culture and tradition and may also be economically based. Conventional dietary recommendations to avoid all fried foods are not culturally sensitive and are unlikely to be followed by this patient population."
Asking a woman to add fresh fruits and vegetables, while cutting down on some fried foods, might work better, the researcher noted.
Prior studies, Rose said, have shown that such "culturally sensitive messages" can get patients to adopt healthier eating habits.
SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, May 2009.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/20/eline/links/20090520elin002.html

U.S. group sees little progress on medical errors
Last Updated: 2009-05-20 10:04:50 -0400 (Reuters Health)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Despite a decade of promises, little has been done to fix the problem of preventable medical errors that kill nearly 98,000 people in the United States each year, a consumer group said on Tuesday.
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, said lawmakers largely have failed to enact patient safety reforms recommended by a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine or IOM that found that medical errors cost the United States $17 billion to $29 billion a year.
"There is little evidence to suggest that the number of people dying from medical harm has dropped since the IOM first warned about these deadly mistakes a decade ago," Lisa McGiffert of the Consumers Union said in a statement.
"That means a million lives and billions of dollars have been lost over the past 10 years because our health care system failed to adopt key reforms recommended by the IOM to protect patients."
In 1999, the IOM projected that 98,000 people die each year needlessly because of preventable medical errors. Consumers Union said little has changed in the past 10 years, and the group now projects that preventable medical errors now account for more than for more than 100,000 deaths each year -- or as many as 1 million lives over the past decade.
The group maintains that reducing medical harm -- including hospital-acquired infections and medication errors -- would not only improve patient care but also provide significant cost savings to help make expanded access to health coverage possible.
Preventing errors and improving efficiency is also a central plank of President Barack Obama's plan for reforming the U.S. healthcare system, the most expensive in the world. The consumer group urged U.S. lawmakers to make patient safety a key focus of any health reform policy.
"As the debate over health care heats up in Washington, Congress should make sure that improving patient safety is a central part of any reform legislation it adopts," McGiffert said.
The 1999 report by the institute, one of the National Academies of Sciences that advise U.S. policymakers, found preventable medication errors cost the nation $3.5 billion each year. Such errors include giving or prescribing the wrong drug, giving patients the wrong dose or giving the drug in the wrong way.
The economic stimulus bill signed by Congress in February included about $19 billion to promote the use of healthcare information technology, including electronic prescribing, which can help prevent medication errors from sloppy hand writing and harmful drug interactions.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association in March projected that as many as 75 percent of U.S. doctors will move to electronic prescribing within 5 years, spurred by new rules from Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly and disabled, that give doctors an incentive to switch.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/20/eline/links/20090520elin010.html

Antidepressants may not work in heart patients
Last Updated: 2009-05-20 14:29:52 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with depression, who also have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, or other risk factors for heart disease, may not respond to antidepressant drug therapy, according to research reported today at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in San Francisco.
Among 187 adults hospitalized with depression, 43 (23%) failed to respond to antidepressant treatment and were treated with electroconvulsive therapy.
According to study presenter Dr. Dale D'Mello of Michigan State University in Lansing, and co-investigator Dr. Alric Hawkins of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, people who did not respond to antidepressant medication were far more likely than those that did respond to have high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol or to be obese.
The average number of cardiovascular risk factors was significantly higher among non-responders than among responders.
Roughly half of non-responders reported the presence of five cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Future studies, D'Mello said, "need to examine whether aggressive management of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and body weight improves the outcome of depression and other persistent psychiatric disorders."
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/20/eline/links/20090520elin024.html

Arsenic in Contaminated Water Increases Susceptibility to h3N1 Influenza

S. L. Baker, NaturalNews.com   May 21, 2009

(NaturalNews) Not everyone who is exposed to an infectious disease, even the widely-feared new "swine" flu (h3N1), gets sick. And many people who do come down with the flu or another illness get over it without much trouble. While a lot of factors can be at work, from good nutrition to physical fitness, a new study suggests an all-too-common toxin in the water you drink could play a role in whether an h3N1 infection makes you seriously ill.

According to scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and Dartmouth Medical School, the ability to mount an immune response to h3NI infection, a form of influenza A, can be significantly compromised by even low levels of arsenic exposure that commonly occur through drinking contaminated well water.

Respiratory infections with influenza A virus are a worldwide health problem and kill about 36,000 people each year according to the CDC. The recent outbreak of a type of influenza A known as h3N1, or "swine flu", has killed over 70 Mexicans so far and at least six Americans. The fact that Mexico has large areas of very high arsenic in well water -- and these include the locations where h3N1 first appeared -- intrigued the MBL and Dartmouth research team.

"One thing that did strike us, when we heard about the recent h3N1 outbreak, is [that] Mexico has large areas of very high arsenic in their well water, including the areas where the flu first cropped up. We don't know that the Mexicans who got the flu were drinking high levels of arsenic, but it's an intriguing notion that this may have contributed," Joshua Hamilton, the MBL's Chief Academic and Scientific Officer and a senior scientist in the MBL's Bay Paul Center, said in a statement to the media.

Immune response seriously hampered by arsenic exposure

In a study just published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Hamilton and his colleagues reported on their study of mice that ingested 100 ppb (parts per billion) of arsenic in their drinking water for five weeks and then were exposed to h3N1.

"When a normal person or mouse is infected with the flu, they immediately develop an immune response in which immune cells rush to the lungs and produce chemicals that help fight the infection," Hamilton stated in a press release. But in the lab animals exposed to arsenic in their water, something was clearly amiss. The researchers found that the animals' immune response to h3N1 infection was initially very weak. But, several days later, the rodents' immune systems produced a reaction that was too strong and too late.

"There was a massive infiltration of immune cells to the lungs and a massive inflammatory response, which led to bleeding and damage in the lung," Hamilton said in the media statement. He also noted that morbidity from the influenza infection was found to be significantly higher for the arsenic-exposed mice than the control animals who had not consumed arsenic-tainted water.

Hamilton and his research staff have been studying the effects of arsenic for years. They've found that arsenic exposure not only disrupts the immune system but also disrupts the endocrine system, causing unusually broad hormonal upheavals.

"Most chemicals that disrupt hormone pathways target just one, such as the estrogen pathway," Hamilton explained in the media statement. "But arsenic disrupts the pathways of all five steroid hormone receptors (estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, glucocorticoids, and mineralocorticoids), as well as several other hormone pathways. You can imagine that just this one effect could play a role in cancer, diabetes, heart disease, reproductive and developmental disorders -- all the diseases that have a strong hormonal component."

"We don't yet know how arsenic disrupts either system at the molecular level. But once we know how it affects one system, we will have a pretty good idea of how it affects the other systems as well," he added. Currently, Hamilton's lab is working on understanding the unusual dual effect arsenic has on the endocrine system. Very low amounts of arsenic stimulate or enhance hormone responses but at doses just slightly higher, like those found in drinking water, it appears to suppress those hormone responses. "Our principal focus is to figure out this switch. We think that will help us understand why arsenic does what it does in the body," Hamilton stated.

He explained that for arsenic to have health consequences, it requires exposure day after day, year after year, such as through drinking water -- and that's exactly the kind of exposure far too many Americans have to the toxin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims 10 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic in drinking water is "safe". However, according to Hamilton, concentrations of 100 ppb and higher are commonly found in well water in many regions of the country including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Florida, and large parts of the upper Midwest, the Southwest, and the Rocky Mountains.

As reported in Natural News last fall (http://www.naturalnews.com/024909.html), research suggests the EPA's supposedly "safe" level of arsenic allowed in water supplies for public consumption isn't safe at all and could be causing a host of health problems, including high blood pressure and artery-clogging atherosclerosis. What's more, when the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) analyzed data compiled by the EPA, the group's most conservative estimates based on the data indicated that more than 34 million Americans were drinking tap water supplied by systems containing average levels of arsenic that posed unacceptable cancer risks. Now it appears another serious health problem -- a higher susceptibility to a serious case of "swine flu" -- can be added to that list of arsenic-in-drinking-water linked worries.

Reference:
Kozul, C.D., Ely, K.H., Enelow, R.I., and Hamilton, J.W. (2009) Low dose arsenic compromises the immune response to influenza infection in vivo. Environmental Health Perspectives, doi:10.1289/ehp.0900911
http://www.naturalnews.com/026307.html

Tonsil Removal as Treatment for Hyperactivity?

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  May 21, 2009

(NaturalNews) Operating off of evidence that hyperactivity symptoms in some children might be caused by sleep disorders, some doctors are now advocating tonsil removal as a potential treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

"Eventually, I would like to be able to say 'I see a reason. Here are the sleep abnormalities, and he will do better a year later if he has a tonsillectomy,'" said neurologist Ronald Chervin, director of the sleep disorders lab at the University of Michigan Medical School.

In a study published in the journal Pediatrics, Chervin and colleagues examined 78 children whose tonsils had been removed and compared them with 27 children who had undergone other kinds of surgery. They found that children in the tonsillectomy group were significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with behavioral and sleep problems before their surgeries than children in the comparison group. Of 22 children in the tonsillectomy group who had been diagnosed with ADHD, half were no longer considered to have the disorder one year after the surgery.

Chervin points to other studies that have linked sleep disturbance to ADHD, such as one that found significantly higher rates of habitual snoring among young boys with ADHD than among other children. A number of researchers now believe that 15 to 25 percent of ADHD cases may be caused by sleep disturbance, perhaps because the tired body overcompensates by becoming hyperactive.

"I'm perfectly convinced if a child doesn't sleep well, it can affect his cognitive function," Chervin said. "It doesn't mean it's a treatment for all children with ADHD, but it's a factor."

The researcher suggests that tonsillectomies may help because they improve the body's ability to breathe, thus providing a treatment for sleep disturbances such as snoring or sleep apnea.

Roughly 50 percent of tonsillectomies are prescribed because enlarged tonsils are interfering with a child's breathing.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026300.html

Soy Protein Used in "Natural" Foods Bathed in Toxic Solvent Hexane

Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor   May 20, 2009

(NaturalNews) Virtually all "protein bars" on the market today are made with soy protein. Many infant formula products are also made with soy protein, and thousands of vegetarian products (veggie burgers, veggie cheese, "natural" food bars, etc.) are made with soy protein. That soy protein is almost always described as safe and "natural" by the companies using it. But there's a dirty little secret the soy product industry doesn't want you to know: Much of the "natural" soy protein used in foods today is bathed in a toxic, explosive chemical solvent known as hexane.

To determine the true extent of this hexane contamination, NaturalNews joined forces with the Cornucopia Institute (www.Cornucopia.org) to conduct testing of hexane residues in soy meal and soy grits using FDA-approved and USDA-approved laboratories. The Cornucopia Institute performed the bulk of this effort, and NaturalNews provided funding to help cover laboratory costs.

The results proved to be worrisome: Hexane residues of 21ppm were discovered in soy meal commonly used to produce soy protein for infant formula, protein bars and vegetarian food products.

These laboratory results appear to indicate that consumers who purchase common soy products might be exposing themselves (and their children) to residues of the toxic chemical HEXANE -- a neurotoxic substance produced as a byproduct of gasoline refining.

But how dangerous is hexane, exactly? Is it something that could be dangerous at a few parts per million? And which soy-based products on the market right now might be contaminated with hexane?

To answer these questions, NaturalNews looked into public documents surrounding Martek Biosciences Corporation, a company that manufactures DHA for infant formula, using hexane for extraction.

We found disturbing details about Martek, including a documented explosion in the wastewater treatment system downstream from the manufacturing plant. This explosion was caused by hexane pollution.

We also found documents revealing Martek's application for permission to pollute hexane into the environment, as well as a planned emission cap that would put the company just under the limit for being considered a "major polluter" of Hazardous Air Pollutants.

Additional documents reveal concerning information about the safety of Martek's oils used in infant formula. All this information is being released in tomorrow's feature story on NaturalNews, so be sure to check back to read that. The remainder of this story focuses on the use of hexane in soy products.

What you probably never knew about Hexane extraction

To learn more about the use of hexane in the health industry -- and in soy products in particular -- we turn to the Cornucopia Institute's recently-published report called Behind the Bean (http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/s...)

This report contains some of the most shocking information you've probably ever read about the possible dangers of this chemical solvent used in the processing of soy. Here are some highlights of what it explains about hexane: (Quotation marks indicate exact verbiage from the Behind the Bean report.)

• Hexane is a petroleum chemical produced as a by-product of gasoline refining.

• "Hexane is used to process nearly all conventional soy protein ingredients and edible oils and is prohibited when processing organic foods."

• Soybeans are bathed in hexane as part of their processing by food manufacturers.

• "Hexane is a neurotoxic chemical that poses serious occupational hazards to workers, is an environmental air pollutant, and can contaminate food."

• Hexane has been detected as a chemical contaminant in soy-based foods.

• There is no requirement that food companies test their products for hexane residues (including soy-based infant formula).

• Soy protein isolate and texturized soy protein (TVP) are made using hexane baths.

• "The soy protein ingredients in most nonorganic foods such as vegetarian burgers and nutrition bars are processed with the use of hexane."

• Shocker: "Products such as Clif Bars with the label "made with organic oats and soybeans" are required by law to have 70% organic ingredients -- the remaining 30%, however, can legally be hexane extracted."

Soybean processing releases hexane into the environment

Perhaps one of the most shocking realizations in all this is that soybean processing facilities release huge amounts of hexane chemicals into the environment. It is an unavoidable part of the hexane extraction process, and right now tens of millions of pounds of hexane are being released into the atmosphere each year by soy processing companies like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill.

Here are more startling facts about the release of hexane chemicals by soybean processing facilities: (cited from Behind the Bean by the Cornucopia Institute) (http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/s...) (Quotation marks indicate a direct quotation from the Cornucopia Institute's report. Non-quotation marks indicate paraphrasing of this source.)

• Soybean processing plants release hexane into both the air and water.

• Hexane is considered by the EPA to be a hazardous air pollutant. It defines this as airborne compounds "that cause or may cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental and ecological effects."

• "In 2007, the last year for which data is available from the EPA Toxics Release Inventory, grain processors were responsible for more than two-thirds of all hexane emissions in the United States, releasing 21 million pounds of this hazardous air pollutants."

• A soy processing facility owned by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in Decatur Illinois reportedly released almost 2 million pounds of hexane into the environment in a single year! Each year in Illinois, ADM, Cargill, Bunge and other companies release nearly 5 million pounds of hexane into the environment.

• "Solae, a major supplier of soy protein ingredients found in vegetarian burgers, energy bars, and other "all-natural" foods, emitted nearly one million pounds of hexane, as a pollutant, from its factories in Ohio and Illinois. Its plant in Bellevue, Ohio, is the nation's seventh largest emitter of hexane, releasing more of this hazardous air pollutant than other major sources such as Exxon Mobil's oil refinery plant in Baytow, Texas, and Firestone's tire factory in Orange, Texas."

• "On August 29, 2003, two workers died when hexane gas in a Sioux City, Iowa, soybean processing plant ignited."

• Hexane explosions have occurred in Italy, Mexico (200 dead) and South Africa, often killing or injuring chemical plant workers.

• In 2001, a truck carrying 4,500 gallons of hexane caught fire and exploded, injuring the truck driver and setting fire to nearby homes.

• Hexane also poses a serious health danger to workers: "Workers who come in dermal (skin) contact with hexane experience immediate irritation characterized by erythema and hyperemia, and they develop blisters after several hours."

• According to The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the permissible exposure level of hexane is 500 parts per million (ppm) for workers with 8-hour exposures. Exposures of 800 ppm for 15 minutes can cause respiratory tract and eye irritation, as well as symptoms of carnosis. At higher exposure levels, workers can develop symptoms of nausea, vertigo and headaches.

• "Workers who are chronically exposed to hexane levels ranging from 400 to 600 ppm, with occasional exposures of up to 2,500 ppm, have developed polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder. In these cases, distal symmetrical muscle weakness is common, and nerve biopsies show nerve damage. A recently published peer-reviewed article in Environmental Health Perspectives hypothesizes that occupational exposure to hexane may contribute to the development of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, a disease that causes loss of vision. Chronic exposure may also lead to blurred vision, restricted visual field, and optic nerve atrophy." (Read more details in Behind the Bean at http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/s...

• Almost no research has been done to test the toxicity of hexane residues in foods -- not on adults, nor infants.

• "According to EPA reports, small quantities of solvent (up to 0.2 percent by volume of oil) can be present in oil after extraction, even after solvent recovery by film evaporators and a distillation stripper. A Swiss team of scientists tested various oils and found hexane residues in some of the tested oils."

• Test results from the Cornucopia Institute's lab tests (funded in part by NaturalNews): < 10 ppm hexane residues in soy oil. Soy meal: 21 ppm hexane residues. Soy grits: 14 ppm hexane residues.

• "Most soy-based infant formulas contain ingredients that have been hexane extracted. In fact, nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted."

How can you protect yourself and your children from hexane?

As these laboratory tests reveal, hexane residues may be alarmingly widespread across the "natural" foods industry. In fact, as the Cornucopia Institute reports:

"...hexane-extracted soy protein is found in the vast majority of nonorganic foods with soy ingredients that appeal to health-conscious, environmentally conscious, and vegetarian consumers. For example, Gardein™ is a Canadian company that produces meat analogs -- soy-based "chicken" and soy-based "beef" -- for brands and private labels including Yves Cuisine®, Morningstar Farms®, Trader Joe's, and It's All Good Foods®, and for grocery store prepared foods departments such as Whole Foods. While the company describe its process for making these meat analogs as "pure and simple," it does not mention that it starts with hexane-extracted soy protein."

In the United States, there is currently only one way of knowing for sure that the soy-based foods you purchase is free of hexane contaminants: Look for the green USDA Organic seal on the package:

• Beware of claims of "natural" soy -- Even hexane-extracted soy can be called "natural."

• Beware of claims of "made with organic soy" -- Such products may still contain non-organic soy-based ingredients extracted with hexane.

• Beware of "veggie" products containing texturized vegetable protein. Many of these products not only likely contain hexane chemical residues; they also are usually made with yeast extract, a flavoring ingredient that contains MSG, a neurotoxin. (Imagine the impact of these two neurotoxins in combination...)

• Don't feed your infant soy protein. Instead, opt for human breast milk (the best option), or goat's milk formulas such as Genesis Organics (www.GenesisOrganics.com).

The bottom line - the Health Ranger's opinion

From my point of view, these highly disturbing findings about hexane residues appearing in processed soy products just confirm what we've known about these food conglomerates for a long time: Big food companies are serving up poison to infants, teens, adults and senior citizens.

Not only are these food companies bathing their soy products in a neurotoxic chemical, the FDA is once again asleep at the wheel, allowing dangerous chemicals to remain prevalent in the food supply while doing virtually nothing to warn consumers or ban the toxic chemical from soy product processing.

Thus, We the People once again find ourselves in the position of being poisoned by the food companies and betrayed by the FDA. If that sounds familiar, it's because this has happened again and again with toxic ingredients ranging from monosodium glutamate and aspartame to sodium nitrite and petrochemical food colorings.

Big Food and the FDA, in fact, almost appear to be conspiring to poison the population... which just happens to create a windfall of profits for Big Pharma -- the other corporate master of the FDA.

It's a clever scam: Poison the people with hidden chemicals in the food supply, then when their organs start to fail, drug them on monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, the FDA enforces the whole thing by outlawing real food (like raw almonds or raw organic cow's milk), thereby forcing people to eat chemically-contaminated processed food.

To put icing on the (processed) cake, the FDA allows these companies using toxic chemicals to claim their products are "natural." They even allow some health claims for companies using soy in their formulas -- even when that soy has been bathed in hexane!

Protect yourself from the toxicity of processed foods

There is no limit to the insanity of what goes into the food supply when profits are at stake, it seems. And this use of the toxic solvent hexane to process soy that's used in infant formula, protein bars and "veggie" products is yet another example of why it's smart to avoid nearly ALL factory-made foods, regardless of their health claims.

When you grow your own food (or just buy fresh produce and food staples) and prepare it in your own kitchen, you know what goes into it. You also know what's NOT in it (such as hexane or melamine). It's the only sure way to protect yourself and your family from the dangers of processed foods made by food commodity giants that are motivated by money, not concern for your health. In fact, the attitude about chemical contaminants by many U.S. food giants mirrors the attitude about melamine in infant formula as demonstrated by China's powdered milk manufacturers: "Ah, what's a little melamine gonna hurt anyway?"

But it does hurt. It hurts your health and harms your children. There are 10,000 children on dialysis machines in China who can prove it to you. And that's why, in my opinion, these companies using hexane-contaminated soy protein in their products deserve to be publicly exposed, heavily fined and perhaps even shut down and run out of business.

Why modern society looks the other way on chemical contamination of foods

Why are companies run out of business when salmonella is found in their peanut butter (for example), but when toxic chemical solvents are found in their soy proteins, the mainstream media says nothing, the FDA does nothing, and the whole world pretends it's all just business as usual?

I'll tell you why. There is an irrational, false belief that continues to permeate society today, and it's founded in the lies of Scientism and the reductionist approach to western thinking. That false belief is that chemicals are good for you, but bacteria are bad for you.

This is the whole thinking behind the widespread use of antibiotics (which actually promote hospital superbugs) and the mass fumigation of California almonds (just to make sure they're no longer RAW). It's the reason why raw milk is outlawed, but chemically-contaminated soy milk is legal. It's the reason why the FDA views the food supply as safe only if it's sterile. It's the big lie about food safety, and virtually every mainstream newspaper, TV station and journalist buys into it.

They think salmonella is deadly dangerous, but MSG, aspartame and sodium nitrite are just fine. They believe in the lie that chemicals are safe as long as the FDA doesn't say anything against them!

But it's hogwash. A sterile food supply is a dead food supply. And dead foods don't keep people alive for very long. Hence the slow, torturous death of our aging population. Our people are not living longer; they're dying longer!

I say this: We are headed for a disastrous collapse of public health stemming from the mass chemical contamination of the food supply and the genetic alteration of the human population. I've covered this in a video report called Genopocalypse which you can watch for free as a promo to TheBestDayEver.com. Check it out here: http://www.thebestdayever.com/healt...

In the mean time, avoid all soy products that are not labeled USDA Organic, and don't feed yourself or your babies processed soy protein bathed in toxic hexane.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026303.html

Vitamin D 'key to healthy brain'
Scientists have produced more evidence that vitamin D has an important role in keeping the brain in good working order in later life.
A study of over 3,000 European men aged 40-79 found those with high vitamin D levels performed better on memory and information processing tests.
The University of Manchester team believe vitamin D may protect cells or key signalling pathways in the brain.
The study features in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
“ This underscores the importance of vitamin D for humans and why evolution gave us a liking for the sun ”
Professor Tim Spector Kings College London
It follows research published in January which suggested that high levels of vitamin D can help stave off the mental decline that can affect people in old age.
The latest study focused on men from eight cities across Europe.
Their mental agility was assessed using a range of tests, and samples were taken to measure levels of vitamin D in their blood.
Men with high vitamin D levels performed best, with those who had the lowest levels - 35 nmol/litre or under - registering poor scores.
The researchers said the reason why vitamin D - found in fish and produced by sun exposure - seemed to aid mental performance was unclear.
Hormone link
They suggested it might trigger an increase in protective hormonal activity in the brain. However, the only data to back this up so far comes from animal studies.
There is also some evidence that vitamin D can dampen down an over-active immune system.
Alternatively, it may boost levels of antioxidants that in effect detoxify the brain.
The researchers stressed that many people, particularly in older age, were vitamin D deficient.
Therefore, if it were possible to stave off the effects on ageing on the brain with vitamin D supplements the implications for the health of the population could be significant.
Professor Tim Spector, of King's College London, has carried out research into the effect of vitamin D on ageing.
He said: "This is further evidence from observational studies that vitamin D is likely to be beneficial to reduce many age-related diseases.
"Taken together with similar data that shows its importance in reducing arthritis, osteoporotic fractures, as well as heart disease and some cancers, this underscores the importance of vitamin D for humans and why evolution gave us a liking for the sun.
"We also know that our genes also determine our vitamin D levels which explains why individuals can vary so much.
"We now need to study the best way to give using vitamin D properly in prevention."
Dr Iain Lang, of the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, carried out the earlier research.
He agreed there was mounting evidence suggesting vitamin D was good for the brain, but warned that it was possible that poor mental performance could be down to an inadequate diet, of which vitamin D deficiency might be just one manifestation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8058183.stm

Weight loss link to dementia risk
Researchers have produced more evidence that rapid weight loss in old age may be a early warning sign of dementia. The University of South Florida study suggests the risk of dementia appears to be particularly high if the person started out overweight or obese.
The eight-year study, based on 1,836 Japanese Americans, appears in the journal Neurology. It found people who were thin, or lost weight quickly seemed to be at highest risk of developing dementia.
BODY MASS INDEX
Calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared
  Normal: 18.5 - 24.9
  Overweight: 25 - 29.9
  Obese: Above 30
People with a lower body mass index (BMI) at the beginning of the study were 79% more likely to develop dementia than those who carried more weight.
In addition, those who lost weight over the study period at a faster rate were nearly three times more likely to develop dementia than those who lost weight more slowly over time.
This result was more pronounced in those who were overweight or obese to start - people with a BMI of 23 or higher had an 82% reduced risk of developing the disease compared to those whose BMI was lower.
The findings echo a study published in 2006 which found women who later developed dementia had a drop in weight as early as a decade prior to the onset of memory loss.
Lead researcher Dr Tiffany Hughes said there was growing evidence that declining weight in later life may be one of the first physical changes from the disease that occur before it actually affects memory.
She said: "Our finding suggests that losing weight quickly in older age may be an early sign of dementia."
However, she also stressed that the research did not suggest that being obese or overweight was a way to protect against dementia.
In fact, previous research has shown that carrying excess weight around the stomach in middle age may increase the risk of the disease.
Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "Sudden weight loss may be an early sign of dementia, and is cause to see a GP.
"However, obesity is not desirable; in middle age, being overweight can increase dementia risk. "The best way to reduce dementia risk is to maintain a balanced diet, regular exercise and frequent social interactions.
"Much more research like this is needed if we are to improve support for people with dementia: a condition that remains undiagnosed in most cases."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8055030.stm

'Junk' DNA Has Important Role, Researchers Find

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2009) — Scientists have called it "junk DNA." They have long been perplexed by these extensive strands of genetic material that dominate the genome but seem to lack specific functions. Why would nature force the genome to carry so much excess baggage?
Now researchers from Princeton University and Indiana University who have been studying the genome of a pond organism have found that junk DNA may not be so junky after all. They have discovered that DNA sequences from regions of what had been viewed as the "dispensable genome" are actually performing functions that are central for the organism. They have concluded that the genes spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome that is necessary for the organism to grow. It all happens very quickly. Genes called transposons in the single-celled pond-dwelling organism Oxytricha produce cell proteins known as transposases. During development, the transposons appear to first influence hundreds of thousands of DNA pieces to regroup. Then, when no longer needed, the organism cleverly erases the transposases from its genetic material, paring its genome to a slim 5 percent of its original load.
"The transposons actually perform a central role for the cell," said Laura Landweber, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton and an author of the study. "They stitch together the genes in working form." The work appeared in the May 15 edition of Science.
In order to prove that the transposons have this reassembly function, the scientists disabled several thousand of these genes in some Oxytricha. The organisms with the altered DNA, they found, failed to develop properly.
Other authors from Princeton's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology include: postdoctoral fellows Mariusz Nowacki and Brian Higgins; 2006 alumna Genevieve Maquilan; and graduate student Estienne Swart. Former Princeton postdoctoral fellow Thomas Doak, now of Indiana University, also contributed to the study.
Landweber and other members of her team are researching the origin and evolution of genes and genome rearrangement, with particular focus on Oxytricha because it undergoes massive genome reorganization during development.
In her lab, Landweber studies the evolutionary origin of novel genetic systems such as Oxytricha's. By combining molecular, evolutionary, theoretical and synthetic biology, Landweber and colleagues last year discovered an RNA (ribonucleic acid)-guided mechanism underlying its complex genome rearrangements.
"Last year, we found the instruction book for how to put this genome back together again -- the instruction set comes in the form of RNA that is passed briefly from parent to offspring and these maternal RNAs provide templates for the rearrangement process," Landweber said. "Now we've been studying the actual machinery involved in the process of cutting and splicing tremendous amounts of DNA. Transposons are very good at that."
The term "junk DNA" was originally coined to refer to a region of DNA that contained no genetic information. Scientists are beginning to find, however, that much of this so-called junk plays important roles in the regulation of gene activity. No one yet knows how extensive that role may be.
Instead, scientists sometimes refer to these regions as "selfish DNA" if they make no specific contribution to the reproductive success of the host organism. Like a computer virus that copies itself ad nauseum, selfish DNA replicates and passes from parent to offspring for the sole benefit of the DNA itself. The present study suggests that some selfish DNA transposons can instead confer an important role to their hosts, thereby establishing themselves as long-term residents of the genome.
Mariusz Nowacki, Brian P. Higgins, Genevieve M. Maquilan, Estienne C. Swart, Thomas G. Doak, and Laura F. Landweber. A Functional Role for Transposases in a Large Eukaryotic Genome. Science, 2009; 324 (5929): 935 DOI: 10.1126/science.1170023
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520140408.htm

Agricultural Aromatherapy: Lavender Oil As Natural Herbicide

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2009) — Could essential oils extracted from lavender be used as a natural herbicide to prevent weed growth among crops? Research carried out in Italy and reported in the current issue of the International Journal of Environment and Health suggests the answer may be yes.
Elena Sturchio of the National Institute of Health and Safety at Work in Rome and colleagues there and at the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, and the Department Crop Production, at Tuscia University, in Viterbo, have investigated the inhibitory effects on weed growth of aromatic oils, or mixtures of phytochemicals, from plants such as lavender, Lavandula officinalis.
Essential oils, are as the name suggests, often the plant's "essence" in terms of odour. Essential oils are complex chemical mixtures of natural products made by the plant for its own purposes, including terpenes, alcohols, aldehydes and phenols. Indeed, several plant essential oils are present as natural inbuilt herbicides and pesticides.
Synthetic pesticides and herbicides have been in common use for decades and have protected crops from parasites, insects, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and eliminated weeds. However, by virtue of their design, these substances are toxic and in some cases thought to be carcinogenic. Their incorrect use or inadvertent exposure have been the focus of numerous studies on animal and human health, the results of which have led to serious initiatives to find alternative approaches to pest and weed control.
Other researchers have investigated the potential of essential oils from cinnamon plants, and peppermint to prevent seed germination of some weed species found in the Mediterranean region.
Sturchio and colleagues have investigated the effects of lavender oil on root growth in a plant, Vicia faba in trials. This weed has large chromosomes and so was also amenable to studies in the laboratory that investigated the genetic toxicity of the essential oil on the weed. Their analysis showed the oil to be effective at killing the weed even at low concentration. Moreover, the oil affects growth of soil microbes and fungi involved in crop growth.
The team concludes that, "Essential oils could be useful as potential bioherbicides as an alternative strategy to the chemical remedy." They add that, "The use of phytochemicals permits the development for more sustainable agriculture at low environmental impact. Further studies are now needed to evaluate use of such oils "in the field".
The team points out that the oils would most likely be used either before planting or prior to transplantation of seedlings, so the essential oil would not have toxicity effects on the crop itself. Sturchio adds that, "essential oils are not accumulated in the environment, because of their low persistence due to the easy degradation by microbial and enzyme activity. This aspect could represent an advantage compared to the bioaccumulation of chemicals on soil."
Miriam Zanellato, Eva Masciarelli, Laura Casorri, Priscilla Boccia, Elena Sturchio, Mario Pezzella, Andrea Cavalieri, Fabio Caporali. The essential oils in agriculture as an alternative strategy to herbicides: a case study. International Journal of Environment and Health, 2009; 3 (2): 198 DOI: 10.1504/IJENVH.2009.024878
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514083921.htm

Vitamin D May Halt Lung Function Decline In Asthma And COPD

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2009) — Vitamin D may slow the progressive decline in the ability to breathe that can occur in people with asthma as a result of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) proliferation, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
The group found that calcitriol, a form of vitamin D synthesized within the body, reduced growth-factor-induced HASM proliferation in cells isolated from both persons with asthma and from persons without the disease. The proliferation is a part of process called airway remodeling, which occurs in many people with asthma, and leads to reduced lung function over time.
The researchers believe that by slowing airway remodeling, they can prevent or forestall the irreversible decline in breathing that leaves many asthmatics even more vulnerable when they suffer an asthma attack.
"Calcitriol has recently earned prominence for its anti-inflammatory effects," said Gautam Damera, Ph.D., who will present the research at the American Thoracic Society's 105th International Conference in San Diego on May 20. "But our study is the first to reveal the potent role of calcitriol in inhibiting ASM proliferation."
The experiments were conducted with cells from 12 subjects, and the researchers compared calcitriol with dexmethasone, a corticosteroid prescribed widely for the treatment of asthma. Although, dexmethasone is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, the researchers found that it had little effect on HASM growth.
Dr. Damera and his colleagues found calcitriol inhibits HASM in a dose-dependent manner, with a maximum inhibitory effect of 60 percent ± 3 percent at 100nM.
As part of the University of Pennsylvania's Airway Biology Initiative, the researchers are planning a randomized control trial of calcitriol in patients with severe asthma and expect to have data from the trial in about a year's time.
With its anti-inflammatory qualities and its ability to inhibit smooth muscle proliferation, Dr. Damera said, calcitriol may become an important new therapy, used alone or in combination with already prescribed steroids, for treating steroid-resistant asthma.
Dr. Damera and his colleagues have also conducted experiments to determine the mechanism by which calcitriol retards HASM proliferation. They believe the vitamin works by inhibiting activation of distinct set of proteins responsible for cell-cycle progression.
The investigators have also conducted experiments to determine whether calcitriol, which is currently used to treat psoriasis, could be an effective therapy for COPD. Although preliminary, their data shows that calcitriol appears to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokine secretions in COPD. As with asthma, the researchers believe, calcitriol may also have the added benefit of slowing, if not stopping, the progression of airway remodeling. Others in the field believe calcitriol may also have the potential to inhibit the development and growth of several types of cancer.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520114657.htm

Climate Change Odds Much Worse Than Thought

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth's climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that.
The study uses the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, a detailed computer simulation of global economic activity and climate processes that has been developed and refined by the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change since the early 1990s. The new research involved 400 runs of the model with each run using slight variations in input parameters, selected so that each run has about an equal probability of being correct based on present observations and knowledge. Other research groups have estimated the probabilities of various outcomes, based on variations in the physical response of the climate system itself. But the MIT model is the only one that interactively includes detailed treatment of possible changes in human activities as well - such as the degree of economic growth, with its associated energy use, in different countries.
Study co-author Ronald Prinn, the co-director of the Joint Program and director of MIT's Center for Global Change Science, says that, regarding global warming, it is important "to base our opinions and policies on the peer-reviewed science," he says. And in the peer-reviewed literature, the MIT model, unlike any other, looks in great detail at the effects of economic activity coupled with the effects of atmospheric, oceanic and biological systems. "In that sense, our work is unique," he says.
The new projections, published this month in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, indicate a median probability of surface warming of 5.2 degrees Celsius by 2100, with a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 degrees. This can be compared to a median projected increase in the 2003 study of just 2.4 degrees. The difference is caused by several factors rather than any single big change. Among these are improved economic modeling and newer economic data showing less chance of low emissions than had been projected in the earlier scenarios. Other changes include accounting for the past masking of underlying warming by the cooling induced by 20th century volcanoes, and for emissions of soot, which can add to the warming effect. In addition, measurements of deep ocean temperature rises, which enable estimates of how fast heat and carbon dioxide are removed from the atmosphere and transferred to the ocean depths, imply lower transfer rates than previously estimated.
Prinn says these and a variety of other changes based on new measurements and new analyses changed the odds on what could be expected in this century in the "no policy" scenarios - that is, where there are no policies in place that specifically induce reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, the changes "unfortunately largely summed up all in the same direction," he says. "Overall, they stacked up so they caused more projected global warming."
While the outcomes in the "no policy" projections now look much worse than before, there is less change from previous work in the projected outcomes if strong policies are put in place now to drastically curb greenhouse gas emissions. Without action, "there is significantly more risk than we previously estimated," Prinn says. "This increases the urgency for significant policy action."
To illustrate the range of probabilities revealed by the 400 simulations, Prinn and the team produced a "roulette wheel" that reflects the latest relative odds of various levels of temperature rise. The wheel provides a very graphic representation of just how serious the potential climate impacts are.
"There's no way the world can or should take these risks," Prinn says. And the odds indicated by this modeling may actually understate the problem, because the model does not fully incorporate other positive feedbacks that can occur, for example, if increased temperatures caused a large-scale melting of permafrost in arctic regions and subsequent release of large quantities of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas. Including that feedback "is just going to make it worse," Prinn says.
The lead author of the paper describing the new projections is Andrei Sokolov, research scientist in the Joint Program. Other authors, besides Sokolov and Prinn, include Peter H. Stone, Chris E. Forest, Sergey Paltsev, Adam Schlosser, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, John Reilly, Marcus Sarofim, Chien Wang and Henry D. Jacoby, all of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, as well as Mort Webster of MIT's Engineering Systems Division and D. Kicklighter, B. Felzer and J. Melillo of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole.
Prinn stresses that the computer models are built to match the known conditions, processes and past history of the relevant human and natural systems, and the researchers are therefore dependent on the accuracy of this current knowledge. Beyond this, "we do the research, and let the results fall where they may," he says. Since there are so many uncertainties, especially with regard to what human beings will choose to do and how large the climate response will be, "we don't pretend we can do it accurately. Instead, we do these 400 runs and look at the spread of the odds."
Because vehicles last for years, and buildings and powerplants last for decades, it is essential to start making major changes through adoption of significant national and international policies as soon as possible, Prinn says. "The least-cost option to lower the risk is to start now and steadily transform the global energy system over the coming decades to low or zero greenhouse gas-emitting technologies."
This work was supported in part by grants from the Office of Science of the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and by the industrial and foundation sponsors of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
A.P. Sokolov, P.H. Stone, C.E. Forest, R. Prinn, M.C. Sarofim, M. Webster, S. Paltsev, C.A. Schlosser, D. Kicklighter, S. Dutkiewicz, J. Reilly, C. Wang, B Felzer, H.D. Jacoby. Probabilistic forecast for 21st century climate based on uncertainties in emissions (without policy) and climate parameters. Journal of Climate, 2007; preprint (2009): 1 DOI: 10.1175/2009JCLI2863.1
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519134843.htm

Of Body And Mind, And Deep Meditation

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — Chinese researchers have unlocked the mechanism of an emerging mind-body technique that produces measurable changes in attention and stress reduction in just five days of practice.
The practice -- integrative body-mind training (IBMT) -- was adapted from traditional Chinese medicine in the 1990s in China, where it is practiced by thousands of people. It is now being taught to undergraduates involved in research on the method at the University of Oregon.
In October 2007, researchers led by visiting UO professor Yi-Yuan Tang and UO psychologist Michael Posner documented in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences that doing IBMT prior to a mental math test led to low levels of the stress hormone cortisol among Chinese students. The experimental group also showed lower levels of anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue than students in a relaxation control group.
"The previous paper indicated that IBMT subjects showed a reduced response to stress." Tang said. "Why after five days did it work so fast?" The new findings, he said, point to how IBMT alters blood flow and electrical activity in the brain, breathing quality and even skin conductance, allowing for "a state of ah, much like in the morning opening your eyes, looking outside the grass and sunshine, you feel relaxed, calm and refresh without any stress, this is the meditation state."
This week, in a paper appearing online ahead of regular publication in PNAS, Tang and 13 Chinese colleagues define brain and physiological changes triggered by IBMT. Data were drawn from several technologies in two experiments involving 86 undergraduate students at Dalian University of Technology, where Tang is a professor. The data were analyzed and prepared for publication at the UO with help from Posner and psychology professor Mary K. Rothbart, who are not co-authors on the paper.
"We were able to show that the training improved the connection between a central nervous system structure, the anterior cingulate, and the parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system to help put a person into a more bodily state," Posner said. "The results seem to show integration -- a connectivity of brain and body."
In each experiment, participants who had not previously practiced relaxation or meditation received either IBMT or general relaxation instruction for 20 minutes a day for five days. While both groups experienced some benefit from the training, those in IBMT showed dramatic differences based on brain-imaging and physiological testing.
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) -- a scanning method less distracting than functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) -- showed IBMT subjects had increased blood flow in the right anterior cingulate cortex, a region associated with self regulation of cognition and emotion.
Physiological tests also revealed significant changes. Compared with the relaxation group, IBMT subjects had lower heart rates and skin conductance responses, increased belly breathing amplitude and decreased chest respiration rates, all of which, researchers wrote, "reflected less effort exerted by participants and more relaxation of body and calm state of mind."
Finally, researchers noted, IBMT subjects had more high-frequency heart-rate variability than their relaxation counterparts, indicating "successful inhibition of sympathetic tone and activation of parasympathetic tone [in the autonomic nervous system]." Sympathetic tone becomes more active when stressed.
Preliminary findings of a recently completed but unpublished UO study involving a small group of U.S. students are showing nearly identical results, Posner said. The UO study used fMRI rather than SPECT. A much larger UO study is in progress.
IBMT avoids struggles to control thought, relying instead on a state of restful alertness, allowing for a high degree of body-mind awareness while receiving instructions from a coach, who provides breath-adjustment guidance and mental imagery and other techniques., while soothing music plays in the background. Thought control is achieved gradually through posture, relaxation, body-mind harmony and balanced breathing. A good coach is critical, Tang said.
"Life is full of stress, and people need to learn methods to handle stress and improve their performance," Tang said. "There is physical training but we wanted to see about mental training. This method appears to have benefit for the modern society where the pace is fast."
China's Natural Science Foundation and Ministry of Education and the U.S.-based James S. Bower and John Templeton foundations funded the research.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519104103.htm

Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma. In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine, according to new research that will be presented on May 19, at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.
Flu vaccine (trivalent inactivated flu vaccine—TIV) has unknown effects on asthmatics.
"The concerns that vaccination maybe associated with asthma exacerbations have been disproved with multiple studies in the past, but the vaccine's effectiveness has not been well-established," said Avni Joshi, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. "This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the TIV in children overall, as well as the children with asthma, to prevent influenza-related hospitalization."
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend annual influenza vaccination for all children aged six months to 18 years. The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (3rd revision) also recommends annual flu vaccination of asthmatic children older than six months.
In order to determine whether the vaccine was effective in reducing the number of hospitalizations that all children, and especially the ones with asthma, faced over eight consecutive flu seasons, the researchers conducted a cohort study of 263 children who were evaluated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota from six months to 18 years of age, each of whom had had laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 to 2006. The investigators determined who had and had not received the flu vaccine, their asthma status and who did and did not require hospitalization. Records were reviewed for each subject with influenza-related illness for flu vaccination preceding the illness and hospitalization during that illness.
They found that children who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine. In asthmatic children, there was a significantly higher risk of hospitalization in subjects who received the TIV, as compared to those who did not (p= 0.006). But no other measured factors—such as insurance plans or severity of asthma—appeared to affect risk of hospitalization.
"While these findings do raise questions about the efficacy of the vaccine, they do not in fact implicate it as a cause of hospitalizations," said Dr. Joshi. "More studies are needed to assess not only the immunogenicity, but also the efficacy of different influenza vaccines in asthmatic subjects."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519172045.htm

Vitamin D May Lessen Age-related Cognitive Decline

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — Eating fish – long considered ‘brain food’ – may really be good for the old grey matter, as is a healthy dose of sunshine, new research suggests.
University of Manchester scientists in collaboration with colleagues from other European centres have shown that higher levels of vitamin D – primarily synthesised in the skin following sun exposure but also found in certain foods such as oily fish – are associated with improved cognitive function in middle-aged and older men.
The study, published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, compared the cognitive performance of more than 3,000 men aged 40 to 79 years at eight test centres across Europe.
The researchers found that men with higher levels of vitamin D performed consistently better in a simple and sensitive neuropsychological test that assesses an individual’s attention and speed of information processing.
“Previous studies exploring the relationship between vitamin D and cognitive performance in adults have produced inconsistent findings but we observed a significant, independent association between a slower information processing speed and lower levels of vitamin D,” said lead author Dr David Lee, in Manchester’s School of Translational Medicine.
“The main strengths of our study are that it is based on a large population sample and took into account potential interfering factors, such as depression, season and levels of physical activity.
“Interestingly, the association between increased vitamin D and faster information processing was more significant in men aged over 60 years, although the biological reasons for this remain unclear.”
“The positive effects vitamin D appears to have on the brain need to be explored further but certainly raise questions about its potential benefit for minimising ageing-related declines in cognitive performance.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090521084832.htm

Lifestyle Program For Patients With COPD Is Health And Cost Effective

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — Patients with moderate COPD were randomized to receive "usual care" or to undergo an interdisciplinary, community-based program (INTERCOM) that offered an intensive lifestyle moderation phase of four months, during which patients were instructed in detail to perform two 15-minute intervals of pleasurable walking or cycling, and offered instruction in other lifestyle changes such as nutrition and smoking cessation.
After the four-month introductory period, there was a less intensive 20-month maintenance during which patients were offered guidance but not intensive intervention.
Researcher Carel van Wetering, from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Maxima Medical Centre and colleagues randomized patients with mild to moderate COPD to receive "usual care" or undergo an interdisciplinary, community-based program (INTERCOM) that offered an intensive lifestyle moderation phase of four months, during which patients were instructed in detail to perform two 15-minute intervals of pleasurable walking or cycling, and offered instruction in other lifestyle changes such as nutrition and smoking cessation. After the four-month introductory period, there was a less 20-month maintenance period.
The study results were recently presented at the 105th international conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego (May 15-20).
After two years, the researchers found that, compared with patients who had gotten the usual care, those who had undergone the INTERCOM program showed significant improvements in health status (SGRQ); exercise capacity, and dyspnea. Improvements were seen at four months with respect to disease-specific quality of life, walk distance, exercise capacity, dyspnea, handgrip force and fat free mass index. After two years improvements in exercise capacity remained significant, as were improvements over the entire period in dyspnea (MRC) and disease-specific quality of life.
Furthermore, perceived effectiveness—the patients' subjective evaluation of the benefits of the program highly favored the INTERCOM program.
While overall costs for the two year period were €2,751 (about $3686) more per patient for the INTERCOM group, the researchers point out that the expense of the INTERCOM program is "front-loaded" and that maintenance costs were minimal. After exclusion of five patients who were referred to in-patient pulmonary rehabilitation, the difference in costs between INTERCOM and usual care groups was reduced to €909 (about $1218) over two years. The cost for patients with a low muscle mass who participated in the additional nutritional intervention hospital admission were €4724 (about $6330) lower per patient in the INTERCOM group compared with the muscle wasted usual care group.
"This is the first randomized controlled trial showing that community-based pulmonary rehabilitation is feasible and effective, even for patients with less advanced airflow obstruction and that the INTERCOM program improves functional exercise capacity and health related quality of life during 24 months relative to usual care at acceptable costs," said Annemie Schols, Ph.D., professor of nutrition and metabolism in chronic diseases at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. "The INTERCOM program is based upon an integrated view on pulmonary and extra pulmonary manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease resulting from smoking, suboptimal diet, inactivity and disease susceptibility. These new findings from the INTERCOM trial could lead to a shift in clinical medicine and public health towards personalized lifestyle intervention."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520091908.htm

Folic Acid Effecive In Preventing Congenital Heart Defects, Canadian Research Shows

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2009) — The Canadian policy of fortifying grain products with folic acid has already proved to be effective in preventing neural tube defects. New research published in the British Medical Journal by a group of researchers from the McGill Adult Unit for Congenital Heart Disease (MAUDE Unit), the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University, shows that folic acid also decreases the incidence of congenital heart defects by more than 6%.
According to Raluca Ionescu-Ittu, a PhD candidate on the team, "this decrease is very significant and probably underestimated. During the study period, there was an increase in other factors associated with a higher prevalence of congenital heart defects, so without the fortification we would probably have seen an increase in these defects."
Since December 1998, all grain products sold in Canada have been fortified with folic acid with 0.15 mg of folate per 100 g of flour. Thanks to provincial databases, the researchers showed that the rate of congenital heart defects between 1999 and 2005 was 1.47 per 1000 births compared to 1.64 per 1000 births between 1990 and 1999 for a decrease of 6.2% per year after 1999.
Despite the success of this initiative, prevention efforts are still necessary to encourage future mothers to take folic acid supplements. "The level of fortification was established to avoid negative side effects in the general population," explained Ms. Ionescu-Ittu. "However, this level is not quite sufficient for women planning a pregnancy, who should start taking folic acid supplements at least three months before becoming pregnant."
Researchers are constantly assessing the beneficial effects of folic acid on the various aspects of embryonic and infant development. Natural sources of the vitamin, such as fruit or green vegetables, might not provide sufficient doses for pregnant women. Most gynecologists therefore recommend supplements in addition to a healthy diet rich in folic acid.
This study was financially supported by the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The study was conducted by Raluca Ionescu-Ittu, McGill University; Dr. Ariane J. Marelli, MAUDE Unit. MUHC and McGill University; Dr. Andrew S. Mackie, University of Alberta; and Dr. Louise Pilote, MUHC and McGill University.
Raluca Ionescu-Ittu, Ariane J Marelli, Andrew S Mackie, and Louise Pilote. Prevalence of severe congenital heart disease after folic acid fortification of grain products: time trend analysis in Quebec, Canada. BMJ, 2009; 338 (may12 2): b1673 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b1673