Author Archives: Editor

Exercise helps longevity

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Rotterdam: Regular exercise that keeps you fit can prolong life by up to four years, according to new research from the University of Erasmus.

Researchers examined the medical records of 5,000 middle-aged and elderly Americans to discover that those who took moderate exercise on a regular basis lived 1.3 to 3.7 years longer than those who didn’t take any. Those who took part in strenuous daily exercise such as jogging increased their lifespan still further from 3.5 years to 3.7 years. The findings are published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Oscar Franco, one of the researchers said: “This shows that physical activity really does make a difference – not only for how long you live but for how long you live a healthy life.”

The effects of how low, moderate or high levels of physical activity, affected lifespan were calculated, taking into account age, sex, whether people smoked or had health problems.

UK doctors question benefits of supplements

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London: Britons may be overdosing on vitamins, according to a new report by insurer Norwich Union Healthcare.

Four in ten family doctors believe patients are taking too many of the supplements without knowledge of possible serious side effects.

Most family doctors also believe people do not realise that vitamin and mineral supplements may intefere with drug function. Iron supplements, for example, can make antibiotics less effective in fighting infection and vitamin B6, used by many women for premenstrual tension, can cause nerve damage. Excessive vitamin A taken during pregnancy can harm an unborn baby and it also thought that high doses of vitamin C could increase the risk of cancer.

The research also discovered that 13 per cent of the 250 family doctors had patients who had suffered harmful side effects from vitamins in the last year.

Most doctors surveyed believed patients overestimated the benefits of taking vitamins, with many using them as a substitute for a healthy diet and lifestyle. Three quarters had seen an increase in the number of people self-medicating with vitamins over the last five years.

Almost half of the doctors felt there was not enough information on vitamins to enable people to make informed decisions on their own.
They also supported stricter controls on testing of vitamins and backed the idea that only pharmacists should sell them, rather than allowing them to be bought over the counter or via the internet.

Earlier this year the EU introduced new rules governing vitamin and mineral supple-ments, but guidelines on maximum doses are still being written and the process is expected to take until 2009 to be completed.
Previous research has raised a cancer risk from high doses of vitamin C.

A study published in the journal Science in 2001 found that in test tube tests, the vitamin could trigger a biological process that damages the
DNA, or genetic code, of cells. Earlier this year, women were warned that taking B vitamins to ward off a heart attack fails to work and may increase the risk.

Researchers in Norway found that heart attack survivors who took a combination of B vitamins for three years were more likely to suffer problems, including second heart attacks and strokes. There was also a possible increase in cancer risk thought to be triggered by increased cell growth.

A study last year found that high doses of vitamin E could be hazardous for elderly people. The substance is often thought to protect the heart and help stave off Alzheimer’s disease.

Joint supplement better at fighting arthritis than drugs, reveals US research

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San Diego: A supplement taken by athletes is better at fighting osteoarthritis pain than prescription drugs, research by the American College of Rheumatologyhas revealed.

Sportsmen have been using glucosamine sulphate and chondroitin – basic building blocks in cartilage tissue – for years because of the enormous pressure on their joints.

Now a study funded by the U.S. government says over-the-counter supplements significantly reduce pain as joints naturally wear with increasing age.

It is thought they decrease the inflammation caused by the disorder and stimulate the production of cells needed to make new cartilage. Supplements helped four out of five people and had negligible side effects.

Anti-Ageing pill closer

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Los Angeles: A breakthrough by US scientists has brought the prospect of an anti-agieng pill closer.

The team, led by Dr Valter Longo, a biomedical gerontologist at the University of Southern California, have successfully prolonged the life of yeast cells by up to six times its usual lifespan.

Dr Longo said the next step would be to exploit this understanding to create a drug that could reverse human ageing.

The research, in which scientists removed two key genes – SCH9 and Sir2, forced the single celled organisms into “survival mode.” SCH9 governs the abiity of the cell to convert nutrients into energy, while Sir2 restricts the lifespan by converting energy into growth and reproduction. The removal of the genes tricked the cells into believing they had no food and so they concentrated on survival and lived for six weeks instead of one.

The experiment also confirms earlier research in which flies, worms and mice, who were put on a calorie restricted diet lived longer.

Cancer figures grow as people live longer

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London: More people are suffering from cancer because of the increase in longevity, according to a leading cancer expert.

Professor Karol Sikora, of Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital also believes that cancer is likely to become a controllable disease, in the same way as diabetes within the next 20 years.

Speaking at a cancer prevention conference in London he said the treatment of the illness is progressing fast and that by 2015 there would be a blood test to detect those at risk. This would determine genetic makeup and the likelihood of having cancer within their lifetime.

He said: ‘The prediction is that by 2025 we will be talking about controlling cancer in the long term, not eradicating it but making cancer like diabetes. But the cost will be high.’

Globally, health services would struggle to pay for new treatments and prevention strategies, he said.

But the best solution was to prevent the disease, largely by encouraging healthier lifestyles by, for example, stopping smoking

Omega-6 fatty acids may cause dry eyes

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London: Women who consume a greater amount of omega-6 fatty acids have an increased incidence of dry eye syndrome while women consuming greater amounts of omega-3s have a reduced risk of this condition, a new study has found.

Researchers studied 32,470 female health professionals aged 45-84 years who participated in the Women’s Health Study. The study authors determined the women’s fatty acid intakes by using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. They assessed the incidence of dry eye syndrome in the patients by having the subjects report if they had developed a clinically diagnosed case. Of the study sample, 1,546 (4.7 percent) reported dry eye syndrome.

After adjustment for demographic factors, hormone therapy, and total fat intake, a higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid consumption was associated with a significantly increased risk of dry eye syndrome. Subjects who ate the most omega-3s, however, had a lower risk of dry eye syndrome. The researchers found a 17 percent reduced risk of dry eye syndrome for women consuming the most omega-3s compared to women consuming the least.

According to the researchers, “These results suggest that a higher dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids is associated with a decreased incidence of dry eye syndrome in women.”

Arthritis link to lack of vital mineral

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New York: US researchers have shown that shortage of a mineral is linked to knee arthritis.

Selenium, which occurs naturally in the soil and found in brazil nuts, shellfish, tuna, wholegrains and eggs, is believed to have anti-ageing properties and has been shown to protect men against prostate cancer.

The US study of 940 volunteers found that even tiny amounts of the mineral could protect against knee arthritis. For every additional tenth of a part per million of selenium in participants’ bodies, there was a 15% to 20% reduction in risk.

Those who had less of the mineral than normal in their systems faced a higher risk of osteoarthritis in one or both knees. The severity of disease was related to how low the selenium levels were.

Study leader Dr Joanne Jordan, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said: “We are very excited about these findings because no one had ever measured body selenium in this way in relationship to osteoarthritis.

“Our results suggest that we might be able to prevent or delay osteoarthritis of the knees and possibly other joints in some people if they are not getting enough selenium. That’s important because the condition, which makes walking painful, is the leading cause of activity limitation among adults in developed countries.”

Volunteers were enrolled into the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project, a continuing investigation of the disabling condition that was launched 15 years ago. It was the experience of people in severely selenium-deficient areas of China that led Dr Jordan to suspect that the mineral might play a role in preventing osteoarthritis.

In those regions, people frequently develop Kashin-Beck disease, which causes joint problems relatively early in life. Dr Jordan’s team compared the extent of knee osteoarthritis shown on X-rays with the amount of selenium in each volunteer’s body. Selenium was measured in toenail clippings taken from the participants. “We found that when we divided the participants into three groups, those with the highest selenium levels faced a 40% lower risk of knee osteoarthritis than those in the lowest-selenium group,” said Dr Jordan.

Scots have lowest life expectancy in Europe

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Geneva: Scots have the lowest life expectancy in Europe, according to figures published by the World Health Organisation. The Japanese have the greatest longevity in the world, while Swaziland and South Africa the shortest. In Europe Italians live longer than anyone else and the UK has the third lowest life expectancy in the region.

The statistics also reveal that people in some developing countries such as Costa Rica, Chile and Cuba can expect to live longer than in Scotland.

Here the average life expectancy for men is 73.8 years and 79 years for women, falling to 69.3 years and 76.4 years respectively for people living in Glasgow, which has the worst mortality rate in Britain.

Premature deaths are more common in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK and much more common than in Italy, Australia, Israel and Canada, where men can expect to live to the age of 78 and women to between 82 and 84.

Public health experts said that the gap between Scotland and similar developed nations was “alarming”. They blamed the country’s poor diet — high in fat, salt and sugar — as well as heavy drinking and smoking. Scotland has struggled to shake off its “sick man of Europe” image.

Although rates of cancer and heart disease have improved, they remain among the highest in the Continent. Obesity, alcohol related illnesses, sexually transmitted diseases and some mental health problems are also becoming more prevalent.

Experts have pointed to the so-called “Scottish effect”, an in-built sense of fatalism characterised by television characters such as the Rev I M Jolly and Victor Meldrew, which makes Scots drink and smoke more heavily and eat unhealthy food.

“If you look back to between the wars, when we were still an industrial economy with serious ill health and pollution, our rank position in Europe was much higher than it is today,” said Phil Hanlon, professor of public health at Glasgow University. “Life expectancy has improved in all European countries since then but our relative position has declined. We are healthier and living longer but the rest of Europe has outstripped us.

“Twenty years ago, if you compared England and Scotland, the difference could be explained almost entirely by greater deprivation north of the border. But not any longer.

“We have to look at health related behaviour — our smoking, diet and drinking — and issues such as Scottish confidence, fatalism and the like. The Scottish executive is correct to say that our health is improving, but our relative position continues to decline.”

Raj Bhopal, professor of public health at Edinburgh University, added: “The situation is that Scotland has been deteriorating over the past 80 years because the country has taken its eye off the ball. It has developed a deeply engrained culture which extols smoking, drinking and failing to take exercise.

“Scotland has been a leading light in understanding the causes of ill health and preventing disease but we can’t seem to implement our recommendations here while they are being applied across the world.”

Dr Charles Saunders, chairman of the British Medical Association’s public health committee in Scotland, said he believed that the ban on smoking in public places, due to be introduced in March, would raise life expectancy.

“It will be one of the major advances of the health of the public in Scotland — it will reduce the amount that people smoke and reduce the number of people who smoke, which will make quite a significant difference to life expectancy over the years,” he said.

Angry men have higher cholesterol, says US research

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New York: A permanent hostility towards others, long regarded as a component of type A personality, does not affect the long term heart health of women, suggests research in Heart. But the same is not true of men.

The results contradict those of previous studies in the field, say the authors from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The findings are based on a population study of more than 3,000 adults in Nova Scotia, Canada, all of whom were selected at random. Evidence of coronary artery heart disease was found in 139 men and 88 women, a rate of 7%.

Known risk factors for heart disease were assessed in this group, including age, smoking habit, exercise, cholesterol levels, family history, weight, and diabetes.

Their personality type was also assessed, looking in particular at their levels of hostility. This is a key component of type A personality, which has been linked to increased risk of poor heart health.

The group were then monitored for four years for episodes of illness or hospital admission related to their heart disease.

The ‘hostility’ scores among the two sexes were similar. But men with high scores tended to be heavier and had a poorer cholesterol profile than men with lower scores. Women with high scores were significantly more likely to have diabetes.

During the monitoring period, almost half of the group experienced recurrent episodes of poor heart health, including admission to hospital. Four people died. Recurrence rates were similar among the sexes.

But there was a sex difference in the impact of hostility. After taking account of other influential factors men with high hostility scores were twice as likely to have recurrent episodes of poor heart health as men with low hostility scores.

But there was no difference among the women, irrespective of their hostility scores.

It is unclear how hostility affects cardiovascular health, say the authors, but they suggest that hostility management may be helpful in men to prevent recurrent heart disease.

UK’s poor diet habits cost health service £6bn a year

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London: The UK’s poor dietary habits are costing its health service an annual £6 billion – three times as much as the financial toll from smoking – reveals research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The research team from the British Heart Foundation, used European data from the World Health Organization’s burden of disease project, calculating the proportion of ill health and deaths attributable to food. The definition included food poisoning as well as dietary habits.

The information gathered was then backed up by an extensive review of published studies on the financial and health costs of disease and deaths related to food consumption.

The authors used a composite term to describe the impact of ill health and death, known as DALYs, or disability adjusted life years.

They calculated that 37% of DALYS were attributable to food related diseases, with just a fraction of this (0.2%) attributable to food poisoning. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes account for most of this.

Clearly, diet is not responsible for all cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, which account for 28% of health service costs, amounting to an annual £18 billion in 2002.

But the authors calculate that food accounts for around a third, accounting for 10% of all DALYS and costing an annual £6 billion.

This is double the cost to the health service of road traffic accidents, over three times the cost of smoking, and significantly higher than the cost of obesity, estimated at £479 million.

The authors admit their calculations are crude, but suggest that they are probably reasonable. “The estimates suggest that the burden of food related ill health is large, compared with say, smoking, and suggests that [it] has been neglected by health and food policy makers,” they say.

And they call for more specific government health targets on diet, equivalent to those already in place for smoking.

Contact:
Dr Mike Rayner, British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 227 139
Email: mike.rayner@dphpc.ox.ac.uk

Gifted children live longer?

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NEW YORK: Children with high IQs may enjoy longer lives, the results of a new study suggest.

The study, which followed elderly adults deemed gifted by childhood IQ tests, found that the higher their early IQs were, the longer they lived — up to a point, at least. The survival advantage began to plateau after a childhood IQ of 163, an intelligence level few people reach.

Dr. Laurie T. Martin and Laura D. Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health report these findings in the November issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Though the reasons for the link between IQ and longevity are not clear, it does not appear to be merely a reflection of income and social position. As children, the participants were from affluent families and most were white. Yet childhood IQ was still a factor in their lifespan.

Similarly, in an earlier study of Americans with more varied childhood IQs and family incomes, Martin found that IQ was related to health problems independently of socioeconomics. She said the study also indicated that IQ affects longevity among lower-income people as well.

As research has already linked IQ to mortality, the current study, according to Martin, was in part an attempt to see how far the IQ-health advantage extends. The researchers expected there to be a cutoff at which a high IQ no longer brought any extra health benefits.

And there was. But, Martin said, they were surprised at how high that cutoff turned out to be.

IQs of 163 or higher are not often seen; the average IQ score in the general population is 100 (by definition), and children who score above 130 are considered “gifted.”

The current study is based on data from 862 men and women followed since childhood, starting in 1922, until 1986. All had childhood IQs of 135 or higher, with the average being 151.

The researchers found that, up to the cutoff point of 163, participants’ risk of dying during a given period decreased as their IQ increased; for example, those with a childhood IQ of 150 had a 44 percent lower risk of death than those with an IQ of 135.

Though it’s not clear why childhood IQ itself might affect a person’s lifetime health, Martin and Kubzansky point to several possibilities. For one, these children may be more likely to take up healthy habits like regular exercise, while shunning health risks like smoking. They are also more likely to get high-paying, prominent jobs as adults, with all the advantages that confers.

And in general, Martin noted, IQ scores reflect a “set of skills,” like reasoning, planning and communication, that affect how people manage their health — from talking with their doctors to dealing with a complex healthcare system.

Understanding exactly why IQ affects longevity, according to Martin, could ultimately help improve health and healthcare for everyone.

Sleeping pill risk for older people

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Toronto: For older people, the risks outweigh the benefits of taking sleeping pills and other sedatives, according to researchers

Insomnia can often affect the quality of life for older people and between 5% and 33% of older people in the UK are prescribed sleeping pills such as benzodiazepine.

But in an analysis of 24 studies carried out between 1966 and 2003, researchers from the UK and Canada found that the adverse results for older people taking sedatives – such as dizziness, loss of balance, falls, and disorientation – were statistically significant enough to make them think non-drug treatments could be a better approach to tackling insomnia.

The 24 studies included 2,417 participants in total and looked at the effects of sedative hypnotics (sedatives), including over the counter medications such as antihistamines, and prescription only drugs like benzodiazepine. Research only included cases where people who were 60 and above had been taking them for five consecutive nights, compared to people taking placebos.

Effects such as dizziness or loss of balance – psychomotor-type side-effects – were reported in 13 studies (1,016 participants). Seven of the 59 psychomotor effects that were reported in these studies were serious events – six falls and one car crash.

But the researchers also found there were many potential benefits for people taking sedatives such as improved quality of sleep (more sound uninterrupted sleep), ease of getting to sleep and total sleep time.

On balance however, they argue that although treatment with sedative hypnotics improves aspects of sleep, the risk of adverse effects rises with such treatment. There are also indicators that older patients are more than twice as likely to experience an adverse event as they are to gain a better quality of sleep from such sedatives. But they stress that this comparison is only a rough indicator because more studies contributed information on harmful events than on sleep benefits.

Improvements in sleep with sedative use are statistically significant, but the size of the effect is small, say the authors. ‘In people over 60, the benefits of these drugs may not justify the increased risk,’ they conclude. The results are published in the UK’s British Medical Journal.

Beta blockers increase risk of stroke, says new research from Sweden

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Stockholm: Scientists have discovered that blood pressure drugs increase the risk of a stroke.

A major study published in the UK medical journal, The Lancet, says that doctors found that people taking the most common type of beta blocker, atenolol, face a 26 per cent higher chance of suffering a stroke than if they were on other medication.

Beta blockers are a class of drugs traditionally used to lower high blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke and heart attacks. But the researchers said doctors should in future consider other medicines as the first-line of treatment for patients with high blood pressure.

Beta blockers slow down the heart and widen the arteries by blocking the activity of a chemical called noradrenaline. Another study last year also ssuggested they may in fact be no better than a dummy pill at preventing heart attacks.

The researchers said that whilst patients on beta blockers did better than those on no medication, there were better drugs now available for lowering blood pressure which did not raise the risk of stroke. The latest study pooled data from 13 trials involving more than 105,000 patients.

It found that, overall, those on beta blockers had a three per cent higher chance of dying and a 16 per cent greater risk of stroke than those on other drugs. The risk increased to 26% with atenolol which is widely used in public healthcare in the UK.
When scientists looked at another seven studies involving 27,500 patients, they found that those taking beta blockers were only 19 per cent less likely to have a stroke than those having no treatment at all.

The researchers, led by Professor Lars Hjalmar Lindholm from Umea University Hospital in Sweden, said beta blockers did not work as well as other drugs and carry a higher risk of stroke. ‘We therefore believe that beta blockers should not remain as first choice in the treatment of primary hypertension,’ they said.

But an editorial in The Lancet, however, warned that if people with an underlying heart disease suddenly stopped taking beta blockers it could trigger a heart attack.

New safe cigarette still harmful, warn experts

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London: Doctors are warning that a new cigarette which the manufacturers claim is less harmful than current brands, is still dangerous to health.

The cigarette, developed by scientists at British American Tobacco would feature a new type of filter said to remove more of the toxins released during smoking. The tobacco would also be treated to reduce levels of cancer-causing toxins. The company has yet to launch the cigarette to consumers.

Experts have condemned the launch as a cynical marketing play and John Britton, professor of epidemiology at Nottingham University and a consultant in respiratory medicine at Nottingham City Hospital said that inhaling smoke in any form was harmful. He said the new cigarettes would be like jumping from the 15th floor insted of the 20th floor.

BAT spokesman said it was working to develop a less harmful cigarette but it was still at a research stage.

New drug and aspirin cuts risk of heart attack, says new research

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London: A new drug combination of aspirin and a bloodthinning agent called Plavix, could save the lives of thousands of heart attack victims each year, say researchers.

The combination reduced the combined risk of death, a stroke or a repeat attack by nine per cent, compared with ‘dummy’ treatment, in a study of 46,000 people.It costs an extra £1 a day per patient and increases survival rates and helps patients live longer. The results are reported in the medical journal The Lancet.

They believe it should be routinely considered for suspected heart attacks. The drug is licensed in the UK to prevent blood clots, but not as a heart attack treatment.

It is the world’s second-largest study of emergency heart attack treatment and was carried out by researchers from the UK’s Oxford University and China.

Participants were treated for severe heart attacks – where the artery was completely blocked – with low-dose aspirin to disperse clots. Half were given Plavix, made by the drug company Sanofi Aventis. The others were given a placebo pill.

The drug reduced the total risk of deaths, repeat heart attacks and stroke by nine per cent when compared with placebo. It cut the risk of death alone by seven per cent.

Patients given Plavix had a 14 per cent drop in repeat heart attacks, without any increase in life-threatening bleeding.

Radio frequency cure for back pain

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Lisbon: Radio frequency therapy has been successfully used to treat back pain caused by disc problems, in trials by Swiss and Portuguese doctors.

The therapy, Pulsed Radiofrequency Neurotomy, is believed to work by preventing the nerve treated from sending pain signals. The specialists who carried out the trial say the results make radiofrequency a potential alternative to steroid injections.

Most of the patients required no more treatments, although pain levels had originally been so high that all had been scheduled for surgery. But soon after treatment, which involves targeting nerves with pulses of radio frequency, all but one of the patients had returned to work.

It’s estimated that six out of 10 people will have back pain at some time, and many will be diagnosed with a herniated disc, where the cushion that sits between the spinal vertebra is pushed outside its normal position, and comes into contact with nerves. These nerves can become compressed or trapped causing pain.

Regular exercise fights arthritis

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Malmo: New research from Sweden has found that regular exercise maybe helpful in strengthening knee cartilage in people at high risk of developing knee osteoarthritis, one of the leading causes of disability

Previously doctors believed that osteoarthritis, a wear and tear disease, is made worse by exercise. But the new findings may suggest that exercise may actually protect against cartilage breakdown. Additionally researchers assessed the cartilage outcomes in 45 patients with early joint disease who were asked to perform moderate exercise. This included trainin sessions three times weekly over four months to improve muscle strength and aerobic capacity.In addition, moderate exercise seemed to improve joint symptoms and function.

The research from Malmo and Lund Universities is published in this month’s issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Snake venom may help resist heart failure

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Sydney: Venom from one of the world’s deadliest snakes, the Australian common taipan, is being turned into a drug for heart failure.

Susbtances in the snake’s venom, have been shown to halt the progression of heart failure. These are a unique set of active molecules which could be used in a new drug following successful trials.

In the wild the taipan can inject 60mg of venom which is enough to paralyse and kill a small marsupial or even a human adult.

Heart failure — which can often be fatal — occurs when the heart becomes too weak to pump blood round the body.

Professor Paul Alewood, of Queensland University said that early tests indicated these molecules are extremely effective at easing the heart’s workload,’ he says.

New study links homocysteine to brain decline in men

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New York: Ageing men with the highest levels of homocysteine, a blood protein linked to degenerative diseases, and lthe owest levels of vitamins B6, B12 and folate experience an increased rate of cognitive brain decline.

Past studies have indicated that elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine may contribute to cognitive impairment. In addition, past studies have determined that most elevations in homocysteine result from low intake of folate, vitamin B12, or vitamin B6.

The research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition assessed the individual and independent effects of baseline plasma homocysteine, folate, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 and of dietary B vitamin intakes on 3-year changes in cognitive measures in 321 aging men. At baseline, the subjects’ dietary intakes of B vitamins were determined with a food-frequency questionnaire. In addition, blood was drawn to measure levels of B vitamins and homocysteine.

Over a mean 3-year follow-up, declines in cognitive function were significantly associated with increasing levels of plasma homocysteine, and with low levels of folate, vitamins B6 and B12. A low dietary intake of each vitamin also was associated with cognitive decline. Plasma levels and dietary consumption of folate remained independently protective against two aspects of cognitive decline (including verbal fluency) after adjustment for other vitamins and for plasma homocysteine. A high homocysteine concentration was associated with a decline in recall memory.

According to the study authors, “Low B vitamin and high homocysteine concentrations predict cognitive decline.”

Hormone drug increases prostate cancer survival

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Paris : A hormone drug, Casodex, increases the chances of men surviving prostate cancer by more than a third, according to a new study.

In the Early Prostate Cancer Study it was shown that Casodex made by the drug company AstraZeneca, delays progression of the cancer for up to three years and reduces the risk of it spreading to the bones by a third. If it combined with radiotherapy, patients have a 35 per cent better chance of survival.

Casodex works by starving the cancer of testosterone by stopping the hormone reaching it.

Until now some doctors have been reluctant to use such treatments, partly because surgery and radiotherapy were seen as more effective. Doctors said the drug is as effective as radical surgery or taking medicines that block the production of testosterone completely.

Evening Primrose Oil kills cancer cells

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Chicago: Doctors at the US’s Cancer Research Institute have found that evening primrose oil could help fight the worst types of breast cancer.
A substance in the oil can help dampen down a gene that is responsible for 30 per cent of breast cancers.

The oil contains a substance that boosts the effectiveness of the cancer drug Herceptin and increased the response of cancer cells to the drug increased 40-fold.

Evening primrose oil is an inexpensive supplement grown mostly in the US that contains high concentrations of a beneficial oil called Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA).

In the study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago, who were studying the effect of GLA on the gene responsible for Her2 types of cancer, added it to cells in the laboratory.

They found it dampened down the activity of the gene, called Her2/neu. They also noticed the boost to Herceptin. The scientists said GLA caused cancer cells to die and reduced growth of the disease. While it is toxic to cancer cells, it does not harm normal cells. GLA can also be found in borage oil and blackcurrant seed oil.

Evening primrose oil is used to treat various conditions. from acne and eczema to depression, PMT and Multiple Sclerosis and it is also taken to try to reduce symptoms of the menopause. But xperts advise women on cancer drugs not to take complementary medicines without checking with their doctor, in case of side-effects.

Brain screen may be able to detect Alzheimer’s

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New York: A 30-minute test that can detect unusual brainwave patterns may be able to detect Alzheimer’s ten years before symptoms emerge.

Researchers at New York University Medical School say the state of the art, electroencephalograph (EEG) can detect subtle changes that could signify the first signs of Alzheimer’s. It records brainwave patterns which appear to show early signs of mental deterioration before they result in memory loss and other devastating symptoms.

The machine has been used for some years to diagnose seizures and brain tumours and the researchers say it is around 95 per cent accurate in identifying those who would decline in mental function and those who would not. It was tested in a study of 44 people between the ages of 64 and 79 who felt their memories were faltering.

They were given a battery of neuropsychiatric and other tests which revealed their brain function was normal for their age.

But each volunteer was given an initial EEG test, followed by several more over the next seven to ten years.

Over this period, 27 of the 44 volunteers developed mild cognitive impairment or full-blown dementia, and 17 remained stable.

By checking the pattern of the scans, the researchers found certain signs on the initial EEG linked with future deterioration.

In particular, a brain wave called theta was excessive in people who would eventually decline, and a slowing of the electrical signals coming from the brain.

Study leader Dr Leslie Prichep warned that the test would have to be checked against much larger groups of people before it could become a standard screening test for Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia and more new cases are diagnosed as more people live longer.

For some sufferers new drugs can delay the progress of devastating symptoms such as memory loss and erosion of the ability to do everyday things such as washing, but there is currently no cure.

A Swedish study found that those in their late 40s and early 50s could cut the risk of developing dementia by roughly half if they kept active.

And those who are genetically more at risk have more to gain as the risk is reduced by about 60 per cent.

Green vegetables cut cancer risk, says new research

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Paris: Eating green vegetables does fight lung cancer amongst people with a particular genetic makeup, according to the International Agency for Cancer Research in France.

A study, published in the UK’s Lancet, found vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and sprouts helped prevent the disease even when eaten just once a week.

Although cruciferous vegetables have been credited with reducing the risk of lung cancer since they are rich in chemicals called isothiocyanates, which stop the uncontrolled division of cancer cells that allow tumours to grow.

These beneficial chemicals are removed in the bodies of many people by enzymes produced by the genes GSTM1 and GSTT1. But for people with inactive forms of the genes, retain the protective chemicals for longer which gives them greater protection.

The research studied 4,200 patients across Europe. Their DNA samples were taken and their diets monitored. Among those with an inactive GSTM1 gene, the vegetables had a 33 per cent protective effect against lung cancer. In individuals with an inactive form of GSTT1, it was 37 per cent. And those with both genes inactive were 72 per cent protected.

Botox used in foot pain

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Washington: Orthopaedic specialists at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centerhave successfully used Botox to treat plantar fasciltis, a common type of heel pain.

Doctors used two injections in the foot to arrest the painful condition in which the heel may swell and be hot to the touch. It is caused by inflammation of the plantar fascia, the layer of tissue that supports the foot arch.

In the new research the symptoms were considerably reduced over a period of at least two months when injections of Botox were given. Botox orginally used for medical conditions now has a wide range of uses.

Male hormone boosts female libido

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Stockholm: A testosterone skin gel, used daily, can boost libido and increase well-being in post-menopausal women.

According to researchers at the obstetrics and gynaecology department at Karolinks Hospital in Stockholm, women with low levels of libido responded to using 10mg a day of the gel.

The doctors said that it had a positive effect on several aspects of their sexual life inlcuding frequency of sexual activity, orgasm, arousal, fantasies and sexual interest.

The researchers found that testosterone levels increased more than tenfold during treatment. Testosterone, although thought of as a male sex hormone, is produced in small amounts by women and is required for a healthy sex drive. Low testosterone levels have been associated with hair loss and lethargy.