Health. iyouproject » VOICE to HEALTH

Winter, cold weather and your skin.

laimisk — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:21:51 +0000

In many parts of the country winter brings cold weather and a drop in humidity. Heaters in the home are running which adds to the dryness of the air. Skin tends to lose its water by evaporation into this dry environment.

This is particularly extreme with aging or with diabetes, when the skin’s oil glands become less productive. Without a barrier of oil the skin can’t prevent this evaporation and is much more prone to becoming dry.

A common sign of excessive dryness is cracking or fissuring of the skin on the fingers, toes or heels of the feet. Widespread flaking and peeling of skin can be seen as can redness and irritation.(...)
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How the parasite enzyme triggers dopamine production.

laimisk — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:35:01 +0000

A research group from the University of Leeds has shown that infection by the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii, found in 10-20 per cent of the UK’s population, directly affects the production of dopamine, a key chemical messenger in the brain.

Their findings are the first to demonstrate that a parasite found in the brain of mammals can affect dopamine levels.

Whilst the work has been carried out with rodents, lead investigator Dr. Glenn McConkey of the University’s Faculty of Biological Sciences, believes that the findings could ultimately shed new light on treating human neurological disorders that are dopamine-related such as schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Parkinson’s disease.

This research may explain how these parasites, remarkably, manipulate rodents’ behaviour for their own advantage. Infected mice and rats lose their innate fear of cats, increasing the chances of being caught and eaten, which enables the parasite to return to its main host to complete its life cycle.

In this study, funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute and Dunhill Medical Trust, the research team found that the parasite causes production and release of many times the normal amount of dopamine in infected brain cells.

Dopamine is a natural chemical which relays messages in the brain controlling aspects of movement, cognition and behaviour. It helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres and regulates emotional responses such as fear. The presence of a certain kind of dopamine receptor is also associated with sensation-seeking, whereas dopamine deficiency in humans results in Parkinson’s disease.

These findings build on earlier studies in which Dr. McConkey’s group found that the parasite actually encodes the enzyme for producing dopamine in its genome.

“Based on these analyses, it was clear that T. gondii can orchestrate a significant increase in dopamine production in neural cells,” says Dr. McConkey.

“Humans are accidental hosts to T. gondii and the parasite could end up anywhere in the brain, so human symptoms of toxoplasmosis infection may depend on where parasite ends up. This may explain the observed statistical link between incidences of schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis infection.”

Dr. McConkey says his next experiments will investigate how the parasite enzyme triggers dopamine production and how this may change behaviour.

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To cell phone there are still some open questions.

laimisk — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:29:33 +0000

There is no evidence to prove that using a cell phone can increase the risks of brain cancer, suggested a lastest study by Danish researchers.

To arrive at the result, the researchers examined the health records from 1990 to 2007 for 358,403 Danish cell phone plan subscribers.

They found that among people using cell phones for as long as 13 years or more, the cancer risks were almost the same as for non-subscribers.

The finding, published in the British Medical Journal last week, alleviated the fear among the world’s 5 billion cell phone users.(...)
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The health benefits of moderate drinking.

laimisk — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:40:25 +0000

Middle-aged white women drinking alcohol moderately are more likely to stay healthy than nondrinkers, according to a new study from Harvard.

The study has followed about 14,000 mostly white women since 1976.

As a result, compared with teetotalers, those who had 3 to 15 alcoholic drinks weekly in their late 50s were 28 percent higher of being free from physical disability, chronic illness, mental health problems, and cognitive decline at the age of 70.

Even having just one or two drinks per week increased a woman’s odds of good health by 11 percent.

However, women should be aware that even moderate drinking has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, said Qi Sun, M.D., a lead author of the study and a nutrition researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health.

These findings don’t necessarily apply to men or to nonwhite women. But they reinforced the evidence for the health benefits of moderate drinking.

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The number of HIV infections has dropped.

laimisk — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:14:18 +0000

According to the report, titled HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Getting to Zero, the number of new HIV infections in Asia and Pacific dropped from about 450,000 in 2001 to 360,000 in 2009, thanks to government-invested preventative programs and increased access to antiretroviral drugs.

About 4.7 million people in the region are currently estimated to be living with HIV, with the majority of them in Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam.(...)
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The obesity risk in children in sleep.

laimisk — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:10:26 +0000

A new Australian study has downplayed the links between sleep length and obesity in teenagers, despite separate international studies claiming that the less sleep increases obesity risk in children.

The study, led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Victoria, looked at the sleep habits of 133 obese adolescents aged 10-16 at a weight management clinic in the United States, according to the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

The participants had their sleep monitored for a week by their parents and a wristwatch-sized device on their arms.

Their weight was measured and each participant was tested for metabolic syndrome.

The researchers found the participants on average slept less than eight hours a night and nearly a quarter had metabolic syndrome.

However, they found no links between shorter sleep duration and more severe obesity, the AAP reported.

The Australian researchers said that based on their findings it was “premature to expect that lengthening sleep will improve BMI ( body mass index)” for obese adolescents.

“We did not find an association between short sleep duration and high BMI within the subpopulation of obese adolescents,” they wrote in their study, published in the journal Sleep.

“This contrasts with the widely reported inverse relationship between sleep duration and BMI in pre-adolescent and adolescent non-obese samples,” they said.

The study’s lead author Dr Valerie Sung said that while getting more sleep could have a number of health benefits for adolescents, it was unlikely to reduce their risk of obesity.

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The significant implications for public health.

laimisk — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:37:07 +0000

Exposure to secondhand smoke ( SHS) is associated with increased risk of hearing loss among adolescents, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.

Among U.S. children, approximately 60 percent are exposed to SHS, according to background information in the article. Studies have associated exposure to secondhand smoke prenatally or during childhood with various health conditions, from low birth weight and respiratory infections to behavioral problems and otitis media. (...)
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The 30 percent of the people are obese.

laimisk — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:19:10 +0000

Obesity rates in the United States climbed over the past year in 16 states, and not a single state reported a decline in the proportion of excessively overweight residents, according to a report released on Thursday.

The report, published by HealthDay News, found that more than 30 percent of the people in 12 states are obese. Four years ago, only one state could make that claim.(...)
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Blame the potato chip.

laimisk — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:33:44 +0000

They’re very tasty and they have a very good texture. Bigger than soda, candy and ice cream. People generally don’t take one or two chips. They have a whole bag. It’s the biggest demon behind that pound-a-year weight creep that plagues many Americans, a major diet study found.

And the reason is partly that old advertising cliche: You can’t eat just one.(...)
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The effects of black tea and its components on cancer risk.

laimisk — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:23:14 +0000

Drinking tea regularly had always been believed to have a positive impact on health. Some studies reveal that compounds in tea can prevent the development of cancer cells in the body. Especially if you regularly consume black tea.

Work mechanism of black tea in fighting against cancer cells is also proven in two recent studies by experts. In the first study, researchers from New Jersey evaluated the theaflavins-2 (TF-2), the unique compound in black tea, and showed that the compound can kill cancer cells. (...)
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