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Exercise can play a significant role in reducing dementia


BBC News
Tue, 10 Dec 2013 05:37 UTC
Image

Regular exercise was a factor which could reduce decline in dementia
Exercise throughout a person's life plays a significant role in reducing the risk of developing dementia, a study spanning 35 years has found.

The Cardiff University study which began with 2,235 men from Caerphilly in 1979 found factors including diet and not smoking had an impact on preventing illnesses developing in older age.

However exercise had the single biggest influence on dementia levels.

This week a G8 summit will hear dementia will affect 135m by 2050.

'Really amazed us'

The research by Cardiff University found the five factors that were integral to helping avoid disease were regular exercise, not smoking, low bodyweight, healthy diet and low alcohol intake.

People in the study who followed four of these had a 60% decline in dementia and cognitive decline rates, with exercise named as the strongest mitigating factor.

They also had 70% fewer instances of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, compared with people who followed none of the factors.

Professor Peter Elwood, who led the study on behalf of Cardiff School of Medicine, said healthy behaviour was far more beneficial than any medical treatment or preventative procedure.
      Read More...
Health

Bacterium can reverse autism-like behaviour

Sara Reardon
Nature
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 09:28 UTC
Image
© Brandon Laufenberg/Getty
Mice displaying symptoms of autism are less social and more anxious than control animals.
Doses of a human gut microbe helped to reverse behavioural problems in mice with autism-like symptoms, researchers report today in Cell1. The treatment also reduced gastrointestinal problems in the animals that were similar to those that often accompany autism in humans.

The work builds on previous research by Paul Patterson, a neurobiologist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. In 2012, he and his team created mice with autism-like symptoms by injecting a chemical that mimics viral infection into pregnant mice; those animals then bore offspring that were less sociable and more anxious than wild-type animals2. The autistic mice also had 'leaky guts', in which the walls of the intestine break down and allow substances to leak through. Several studies have found that humans with autism are also more likely to have gastrointestinal disorders, suggesting that the two problems may be linked3.

To investigate what role the gut might play in the animals' symptoms, Patterson and his Caltech colleagues - microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian and neuroscientist Elaine Hsiao - took a census of the bacteria living in the guts of the mice. They found that mice with symptoms of autism had lower levels of a bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis that is normally present in the mouse gut. When the researchers fed B. fragilis to these mice, the animals began behaving more normally and their gastrointestinal symptoms improved.

Comment: For more information on the gut and brain connection, see:

Vagus Nerve Controls Intestinal Inflammation
Brain, heart and gut minds
Link between gut bacteria and behavior: That anxiety may be in your gut, not in your head
From Autism to Anorexia, it's all about the gut
The Neuroscience of the Gut

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Syringe

Protest planned against last-minute Bloomberg push for mandatory flu vaccines

Colin Campbell and Jill Colvin
Politicker
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 18:45 UTC
flu vaccine
© Denis Charlet/Getty
A flu vaccine.

Autism advocates are set to protest tomorrow against a quiet effort by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to require annual flu vaccinations for all New York City schoolchildren.

On Wednesday, with just three weeks to go until he leaves office, Mr. Bloomberg's controversial Board of Health is set to vote on new rules that would force children as young as six months old to be immunized each year before December 31 if they attend licensed day care or pre-school programs.

"Young children have a high risk of developing severe complications from influenza. One-third of children under five in New York City do not receive an annual influenza vaccination, even though the vaccine safely and effectively protects them against influenza illness," the Health Department said in a statement. "This mandate will help protect the health of young children, while reducing the spread of influenza in New York City."

The Board is stocked with mayoral appointees and controversial initiatives - from smoking bans to regulations on soda cup sizes - have sailed through with little opposition, angering a small, but passionate group of advocates who claim the vaccinations are potentially dangerous.

"The Bloomberg administration is wildly exaggerating the benefit of the flu shot and we think they are wildly underestimating the risks involved with it," said John Gilmore, the executive director of the Autism Action Network, speaking more broadly than the controversial claim that links vaccines to autism.
      Read More...
Smoking

Despite containing no tobacco, French court rules e-cigs are part of the tobacco monopoly


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 15:31 UTC
e-cig
© AFP
A French commercial court ruled on Monday that e-cigarettes qualify as tobacco products and should only be sold by registered tobacconists.

The ruling by the court in Toulouse is subject to appeal but could eventually see the distribution of e-cigarettes limited by a state-imposed monopoly on tobacco sales.

The decision comes amid a global boom in sales of e-cigarettes - battery-powered, vapour-releasing tubes that are promoted as a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco products.

The case stems from a complaint made by a local tobacconist against the Esmokeclean e-cigarette shop in the southern town of Plaisance-du-Touch.

The court in nearby Toulouse gave its verdict Monday, ordering Esmokeclean to stop selling and advertising e-cigarettes as it was violating the "state monopoly on the sale of tobacco" - a decision that could set a precedent.

Cigarettes and other tobacco products can only be sold in France at registered outlets and their advertising is banned.
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Syringe

Drugs used in newborns need better study, docs say

Rachael Rettner
LiveScience
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 15:35 UTC
flat-head syndrome
© Vanessa Van Rensburg | Dreamstime
Plagiocephaly, sometimes known as "flat-head syndrome," is easily treated in most cases.
Many medications commonly given to newborns still have not been officially approved for use in this very young population, despite recent law changes encouraging the study of drugs in children, a new study finds.

That means that drug labels often do not have information about the correct dose that should be used in newborns, and doctors instead must use their best guesses based on their experience and information from adults and older children, said study researcher Dr. Matthew Laughon, an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Drug studies in infants are challenging for a number of reasons - for example, a baby's small size prevents doctors from taking several samples of blood that would be needed to understand the effects of a drug.

But researchers must find a way around such obstacles, because such studies are critical to understanding how to most effectively use drugs in newborns, Laughon said. Children and babies have a unique physiology and will not necessarily respond to drugs the way adults do, Laughon said.

"As a society that cares about its premature babies and newborns, it's really incumbent on us to make these vulnerable children less vulnerable," by using effective drugs to treat birth complications, said Dr. Edward McCabe, chief medical officer of the March of Dimes, who was not involved in the study.
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Health

Seizure unconsciousness similar to slow wave sleep


Science Daily
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:54 UTC
Epilepsy patients with complex partial seizures have impaired consciousness during seizure episodes and typically have no memory of the event. However, the mechanisms of seizure unconsciousness are unclear. Research reported today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 67th Annual Meeting suggests that the mechanism underlying loss of awareness during complex partial seizures is likely the same as that involved in slow wave or deep sleep.

In earlier research the team of investigators from Yale Medical School revealed an association between slow wave oscillations in neocortex and loss of consciousness in complex partial seizures. They also developed a rodent model with similar seizure characteristics, including neocortical slow waves similar to those seen in sleep. With the use of this model, the team then sought to find whether the slow waves of seizures were closely related to decreased acetylcholine in a specific sleep-associated brain area, as occurs in slow wave sleep.

The synthesis and release of acetylcholine is followed by breakdown into the molecule choline. That molecule was thus used in this study as a proxy for acetylcholine and choline levels at the target site were recorded using an implanted choline-oxidase coated microelectrode.
      Read More...
Health

Seizures and epilepsy: A significant burden on veterans


Science Daily
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:28 UTC
Three studies coming out of the American Epilepsy Society's 67th Annual Meeting in Washington DC expose the high prevalence of epilepsy and other neurological disorders in US Veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The research conducted from these studies indicate that veterans are at a particularly high risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychological non-epileptic seizures (PNES) and epileptic seizure diagnoses.

A study by the Southeast Epilepsy Centers of Excellence and Duke University Medical Center found that 87,377 Veterans with seizures diagnoses were managed within the Veterans Health Administration during the 2011 Fiscal Year. The prevalence rate was 15.5 per 1,000 and incidence was 148.2 per 100,000. Higher incidence of diagnoses was found in young veterans under the age of 46.

"Appropriately diagnosing and treating Veterans with TBI and PTSD is notoriously difficult," said Tung T. Tran, MD. "It involves a multidisciplinary approach to include both epilepsy and mental health specialists."
      Read More...
Hearts

Time-lapsed video shows woman's transformation with ketogenic diet: 88 lbs. lost in 5 seconds

Chris Weller
Medical Daily
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 13:01 UTC
Image
A woman has documented her one-year, 88-lb. weight loss journey in a series of pictures, which have garnered over three million views on Reddit in the year since they were posted, and compelled one user to turn the pictures into a time-lapsed, morphing transformation.

Amanda, who withheld her last name, dropped 88 lbs. in just over a year. Beginning her journey in July of 2011 at 222 lbs., she embarked on a mission to lose weight through a ketogenic diet - a diet high in fats, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates. The 26-year-old conceded she did "virtually zero intentional exercise" over the course of her weight loss journey, just simple dietary swaps and the occasional picture as a reminder.

"I knew that I had to start somewhere," Amanda told ABC News. "I figured if I did it [took pictures] at least once a month, at the end of however long it took, I would have this really cool end product."

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Comment: For more information on the healing properties of this diet, see:

The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview

Solve Your Health Issues with a Ketogenic Diet

Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets

      Read More...
Syringe

Australia determined to vaccinate by release of aerosolized GMO vaccine

Dave Mihalovic
TheViralPost
Wed, 04 Dec 2013 20:54 UTC
Aerial Spraying
© The Viral Post.com
The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) is on its way to approve a licence application from PaxVax Australia (PaxVax) for the intentional release of a GMO vaccine consisting of live bacteria into the environment in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria.

According to the regulator, it qualifies as a limited and controlled release under section 50A of the Gene Technology Act 2000 (the Act).

PaxVax is seeking approval to conduct the clinical trial of a genetically modified live bacterial vaccine against cholera. Once underway the trial is expected to be completed within one year, with trial sites selected from local government areas (LGAs) in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

PaxVax has proposed a number of control measures they say will restrict the spread and persistence of the GM vaccine and its introduced genetic material, however there is always a possiblity of these restrictions failing and infecting wildlife and ecosystems.
      Read More...
Magnify

New analysis finds: Choice at the supermarket is a mirage

Food & Water watch
Common Dreams
Thu, 05 Dec 2013 18:12 UTC
Image
© opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
Despite shelves overflowing with colorful packages, increased consolidation of the grocery industry leaves shoppers with diminishing choice and higher grocery bills.

Today, Food & Water Watch released an in-depth analysis of the consolidation of the grocery industry and the range of impacts it has on the food chain. Grocery Goliaths: How Food Monopolies Impact Consumers examines 100 types of grocery products and found that the top four or fewer food companies control a substantial majority of the sales of each item. Most often, the biggest food manufacturers offer multiple brands in each type of grocery, giving consumers the false impression that they are choosing between competing products when in fact all the sales can go to the same parent company. Over the past few years as food companies and supermarket chains have consolidated, this illusion of choice has coincided with increasingly expensive grocery bills.

"You might think you're a savvy shopper, supporting independent businesses when you buy a product from the organic foods aisle of your grocery store, but chances are you're really being duped by a small handful of grocery industry Goliaths hiding behind an array of brands and pretty packaging," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.
"The largest mega-retailers and manufacturers control more of what we eat than you thought. And they're not only costing shoppers, but farmers and small food companies too."
      Read More...
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