Health News

Rosemary and spearmint extract stave off Alzheimer’s disease

A new study has revealed that enhanced extracts made from special antioxidants in spearmint and rosemary reduces deficits caused by mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.

Susan Farr, Ph.D., research professor geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said that although the study suggested that eating spearmint and rosemary is good for you, their experiments were in an animal model and she doesn’t know how much- or if any amount- of these herbs people would have to consume for learning and memory to improve.

Farr tested a novel antioxidant-based ingredient made from spearmint extract and two different doses of a similar antioxidant made from rosemary extract on mice that have age-related cognitive decline.

She found that the higher dose rosemary extract compound was the most powerful in improving memory and learning in three tested behaviors. The lower dose rosemary extracts improved memory in two of the behavioral tests, as did the compound made from spearmint extract.

Further, there were signs of reduced oxidative stress, which is considered a hallmark of age-related decline, in the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.

“Our research suggests these extracts made from herbs might have beneficial effects on altering the course of age-associated cognitive decline,” Farr said. “It’s worth additional study.”

The study was presented at Neuroscience 2013.

Source: Zee News

 

 

Chemical Found in French Fries Linked to Cancer

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued yet another popular food ingredient to its list of foods to be wary of and this time, it’s a chemical called acrylamide which is found in crispy French fries.

In a consumer update posted to its website, the FDA gives a detailed report, urging consumers to cut back on acrylamide, a chemical that forms naturally in plant-based foods when they are cooked at high temperatures for a long time. The most popular food item this ingredient is found in is French fries, especially crispy ones.

Besides crispy fries, the chemical acrylamide is commonly found in cereals, coffee, crackers, breads and dried fruits. Acrylamide is not only limited to food items, the chemical has also found its way into the industrial chain in products including paper, dyes and plastics and treating drinking water, wastewater and sewage.

Several studies on animals have found that when high levels of arylamide are induced, there is a higher risk of cancer. However, more research is needed, particularly long-term studies on humans, in order to determine the link between arylamide and cancer development.

Since up to 40 percent of the calories we consume contain acrylamide, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, it’s worth exploring some of the other ways to reduce it where we can.

The cancer concern arylamide poses is not one that only the FDA has. Both the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization call the levels of acrylamide in foods a “major concern,” and call for more research.

Below are some tips on how to reduce acrylamide consumption from the FDA and Cancer.gov:

  • Avoid frying foods. “If frying frozen fries follow manufacturers’ recommendations on time and temperature and avoid overcooking, heavy crisping or burning,” the FDA says.
  • Frying, baking, roasting and broiling are the methods that create the most acrylamide, while boiling, steaming, and microwaving appear to generate less.
  • According to Cancer.gov, 248°F (120°C) seems to be the magic temperature, above which more acrylamide forms. On the contrary, foods heated to below 248°F or less do not seem to contain the chemical.
  • Avoid eating burnt toast. “Toast bread to a light brown color rather than a dark brown color. Avoid very brown areas,” advises the FDA.

 

Source: Parent Herald

 

Autism man still seeking higher education after appeal to Obama

Billy Pagoni is refusing to give up on his hopes for a higher education.

Diagnosed with severe autism at 18 months old, 21-year-old Billy has trouble speaking and communicating with others, making it difficult for him to integrate into a typical college environment.

Nevertheless, Billy had always dreamed of attending college, with hopes of one day becoming a professional chef.  However, according to his mother, Edith, there are currently no university programs suited to meet his special needs.

In an attempt to fix this educational gap, Billy made a public plea to President Obama in April 2012, asking for his help to enroll in a secondary school.  While his video prompted a response from the White House, the Pagonis feel the problem still hasn’t been fully addressed, forcing them to seek more creative routes to further Billy’s educational career.

Now, having just completed his senior year of high school, Billy has enrolled in a special vocational program developed by a Connecticut-based company called G.R.O.W.E.R.S. Inc., where he works in a greenhouse, learning how to tend to plants and herbs.

“What they’re doing is breaking down the skills,” Edith Pagoni, the director of KNEADS, a non-profit social and vocational program for adolescents and young adults with autism, told FoxNews.com.  “He works in the gardens now; he does pruning, floral arrangements, and natural herbs…He’s really learning as he’s going, and we’re hopefully developing for him the ability to take an online course for him to be a sous chef.”

A bumpy road to education

In order to provide Billy with a good education growing up, Edith enrolled him in an applied behavioral analysis (ABA) program at Rutgers University, where he learned to read, write and speak.  She then had to convince local school systems in Connecticut, where the Pagoni family lived, to incorporate the program into their curriculum.

Later, when the family moved to Naples, Fla., they fought to have the ABA program incorporated in schools there as well.

While growing up in Florida, Billy was inspired to take up baking classes after he went to visit a German bread baker. Ever since then, Billy has wanted to become a professional baker or chef, but when it came time to register him in more specialized, university-level programs, Edith found the options to be incredibly scarce.

“They tell me there’s no place for him,” Pagoni told FoxNews.com in 2012 about the search process. “He [went] to school every day, he [got] A’s in a specialized curriculum, but he’s being denied a post-secondary experience.”

Feeling as though Billy had little to no opportunities to attend an institution for higher learning, the Pagonis appealed to an unlikely source: the President of the United States.  In a video posted to Facebook, Billy read from a letter addressed to the Commander in Chief, imploring him to create opportunities for himself and other autistic individuals.

“Dear President Obama, my name is Billy Pagoni,” Billy recited. “I want to be a baker. I am a great student. I never miss a day of school. I get A’s on my report card. Please, can you help me go to college? I am an American. I am autistic.”

The video garnered attention from people all over the world, as well as feedback from a White House spokesperson, who provided Edith with a list of colleges that offered educational programs for autistic students.  However, after meeting with these colleges, Edith found their programs to be more geared towards those with high functioning autism, such as Asperger’s syndrome – and since Billy had a more severe form of the disorder, he couldn’t quite fit in.

As a result, Edith was forced to find alternative solutions to meet Billy’s educational needs.

Growing with G.R.O.W.E.R.S.

Fortunately, Billy was able to get a glimpse of the college experience when his family moved back to Connecticut and enrolled him in a special program at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.  There, he was able to finish his senior year of high school while living on campus and learning how to function on his own.

But after graduating in May of 2013, Billy still wanted to continue his educational career.  That’s when Edith stumbled upon G.R.O.W.E.R.S. Inc., a company aimed at helping people with developmental disabilities perform useful skills and tasks in a normal work environment.

Edith said this program has been extremely beneficial for Billy, as they try to assess his options for future education and employment.

“We’re kind of in a transitional stage,” Edith said. “He really wants to continue with that post-secondary academic experience, but we have to carve it out for them, because there really are no programs out there.”

At G.R.O.W.E.R.S – stands for Growing Real Opportunities with Educational Relationships and other adults work together to grow flowers and plants in a greenhouse, attending additional responsibilities surrounding the horticulture business.  The program is meant to cultivate the specific needs of each participant, depending on what they want to achieve in the future.

“Each individual has different goals,” Scott Hickman, president and owner of G.R.O.W.E.R.S., told FoxNews.com.  “There’s basically a support team around each individual…Some may have dreams (of) working for a landscaper.  Some people have been there since 1975 and would feel uncomfortable if they had to go anywhere else.  Some want to increase their work skills.  It’s great for self-esteem and from person to person it differs.”

Hickman originally ran a similar vocational program for a larger agency in the mid-1990s, but it was canceled by the company due to budget costs.  However, Hickman had seen firsthand how beneficial the program had been for people with disabilities, so he decided to create G.R.O.W.E.R.S. to continue giving individuals opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable to them.

Like Edith, Hickman agrees that there is a significant lack of valuable educational opportunities for adults with autism.

“With a lot more people coming of age with autism, there’s going to have to be more programs available,” Hickman said.  “I think research needs to continue and funding for programs is absolute key.  One of the things I hate to see is seeing an agency that turns into a babysitting service…What we offer, and what needs to be offered more in programs, are activities that are connected with something worthwhile.”

Though Billy loves working at G.R.O.W.E.R.S., Edith says there is still much more work to be done in order to give Billy and other young adults with autism the opportunity to attend school and someday participate in a normal work environment.

Now, Edith says she has a novel business model that can do just that.

A roadmap for the future

While Billy continues to work with G.R.O.W.E.R.S., Edith’s non-profit KNEADS has teamed up with Autism Speaks, in order to carve out a more tailored roadmap for his future.  Together, they are working on developing a new educational model for restaurants and other businesses, which could be mutually beneficial for both the companies and autistic individuals who want to go to work.

According to Edith, franchise restaurants – such as Subway or Chili’s – could easily carve out jobs suitable for people with autism.  Meanwhile, these businesses could partner with local colleges to develop certificate programs specially designed to educate autistic individuals on how to operate in these positions.  Then, once an individual finished the program, he or she could immediately start working at one of the restaurants, using the distinct set of skills he or she learned at school.

“If they could carve certain jobs out and then bring it to a vocational trade school and call it a program, then they would have a path towards employment,” Edith said. “But we need to get these companies to pull together to understand that that would be a great path with someone with autism.”

Edith said that while there are more programs geared towards individuals with high-functioning autism, there are very few options for adults like her son, who have trouble communicating. She said as long as this educational gap exists, she will continue to fight for opportunities for Billy, so that he can become the person he wants to be.

“As a parent, you can have all the money in the world, but if your son or daughter is not connected, then it feels like you’ve failed,” Edith said. “These major franchises that are in business: Let us help you.  There are so many that we can plug into.”

Source: fox news

 

Identical twins share breast cancer, rare surgery

Identical twins Kelly McCarthy and Kristen Maurer have shared a lot in their lives so when one was diagnosed with breast cancer, she urged the other to get tested, too.

“You just do everything together, don’t you,” the doctor told Maurer before delivering the bad news that she, too, had the disease.

Now the 34-year-old twins from Crown Point, Ind., are sharing a medical rarity: Maurer donated skin and fat tissue for McCarthy’s breast reconstruction.

“It wasn’t a question, she didn’t have to ask me,” said Maurer, a college enrollment counselor. “Having a twin is very like having a child. You would do anything for them … in a heartbeat.”

The first successful organ transplant was between identical twins in Boston in 1954 and involved a kidney.

Since then, identical twins have been involved in many other transplant operations, involving kidneys and other organs, bone marrow, and stem cells. But breast reconstruction between identical twins has only been done a handful of times; Maurer and McCarthy, a nurse, are among the youngest patients.

Identical twins are ideal donors because their skin, tissue and organs are perfect genetic matches, explained Dr. David Song, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center. And that eliminates the need for anti-rejection medicine, he said.

Song performed the twins’ surgeries on Tuesday and both fared well.

Typically, breast reconstruction surgery involves implants and/or a woman’s own tissue, sometimes taken from the abdomen, thighs or buttocks. But McCarthy is among women who don’t have enough extra tissue; plus, radiation treatment damaged tissue near her breasts. So Maurer offered to be a donor.

McCarthy said her sister’s sacrifice, “just so I can feel better about myself … is really humbling.”

With their blonde bobs, sparkling brown eyes and easy, engaging smiles, the twins are clearly mirror images of each other. Discovering breast cancer in identical twins isn’t unusual because of their exact genetic makeup, Song said. With twins, there’s also often a “mirroring effect,” with breast cancer developing in the opposite breast, he said. That’s what happened with McCarthy and Maurer.

While their mother died from colon cancer last year, there was no family history of breast cancer.

McCarthy was diagnosed first, in December 2011, with triple-negative breast cancer, a hard-to-treat form of cancer whose growth is not fueled by hormones. She was nine months pregnant and her son was born a week later. Soon after she started treatment, chemotherapy, surgery to remove her right breast, and radiation.

Maurer was diagnosed with a very early-stage cancer in her left breast a few months after her sister.

“Kelly was more upset than I was during my diagnosis, and likewise, when she was diagnosed I was a mess,” Maurer said.

Maurer had a double mastectomy, recommended because her sister’s cancer was so aggressive, but she didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation. She had reconstruction with implants after the birth of her second child last March.

McCarthy’s operation this week involved a second mastectomy, and reconstruction of both breasts. Some of her own tissue was used to fashion one breast. At the same time, surgeons essentially performed a “tummy tuck” on Maurer, removing lower abdominal skin and fat tissue and transplanted it to her sister to create a second new breast.

The twins have always been extremely close, sometimes speaking in unison or completing each other’s sentences. But now, McCarthy said, “I feel closer. Her tissue is over my heart.”

Source: Yahoo news

 

Genetically engineered tomatoes could help improve cholesterol levels

Researchers have reported that small amounts of a specific type oflipid in the small intestine could play a greater role than earlier thought in generating the high cholesterol levels and inflammation that lead to cloggedarteries.

The tomatoes, created at UCLA, produce a small peptide called 6F that mimics the action of apoA-1, the chief protein inHDL.

Researchers added 2.2 percent (by weight) of freeze-dried tomato powder from the peptide-enhanced tomatoes to low-fat, low-cholesterol mouse chow that was supplemented with LPAs.

They also added the same dose of the peptide-enhanced tomatoes to the high-fat high- cholesterol diet.

They found that this addition to both diets prevented an increase in the level of LPAs in the small intestine and also stopped increases in “bad” cholesterol, decreases in “good” cholesterol and systemic inflammation. Tomatoes that did not contain the peptide had no effect.

According to senior author Dr. Alan Fogelman, executive chair of the department of medicine and director of the atherosclerosis research unit at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the peptide-enhanced tomatoes may work in large part by reducing the amount of the LPAs in the small intestine.

The study has been published in the Journal of Lipid Research.

Source: News track India

Drinking three cups of tea a day can cut stroke risk by 20

Drinking three cups of tea a day can cut the risk of a stroke by a fifth, research claims.

An overview of previous studies found Britain’s favourite drink protects against the brain clots that kill 200 people every day.

A new study has revealed that just three cups of tea a day can slash the risk of a stroke by around 20 percent.

Source: Express

 

Bird flu strain infects human for 1st time

A strain of bird flu that scientists thought could not infect people has shown up in a Taiwanese woman, a nasty surprise that shows scientists must do more to spot worrisome flu strains before they ignite a global outbreak, doctors say.

On a more hopeful front, two pharmaceuticals separately reported encouraging results from human tests of a possible vaccine against a different type of bird flu that has been spreading in China since first being identified last spring, which is feared to have pandemic potential.

The woman, 20, was hospitalized in May with a lung infection. After being treated with Tamiflu and antibiotics, she was released. One of her throat swabs was sent to the Taiwan Centres for Disease Control. Experts there identified it as the H6N1 bird flu, widely circulating in chickens on the island.

The patient, who was not identified, worked in a deli and had no known connection to live birds. Investigators couldn’t figure out how she was infected. But they noted several of her close family and friends also developed flu-like symptoms after spending time with her, though none tested positive for H6N1. The research was published online Thursday in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Since the H5N1 bird flu strain first broke out in southern China in 1996, public health officials have been nervously monitoring its progress — it has so far killed more than 600 people, mostly in Asia. Several other bird flu strains, including H7N9, which was first identified in China in April, have also caused concern but none has so far mutated into a form able to spread easily among people.

“The question again is what would it take for these viruses to evolve into a pandemic strain?” wrote Marion Koopmans, a virologist at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, in a commentary accompanying the new report.

She said it was worrying that scientists had no early warning signals that such new bird flus could be a problem until humans fell ill. Scientists often monitor birds to see which viruses are killing them, in an attempt to guess which flu strains might be troublesome for humans — but neither H6N1 nor H7N9 make birds very sick.

Koopmans called for increased surveillance of animal flu viruses and more research into predicting which viruses might cause a global crisis.

“We can surely do better than to have human beings as sentinels,” she wrote.

The vaccine news is on the H7N9 bird flu that has infected at least 137 people and killed at least 45 since last spring. Scientists from Novavax Inc., a Gaithersburg, Maryland, company, say tests on 284 people suggest that after two shots of the vaccine, most made antibodies at a level that usually confers protection.

“They gave a third of the usual dose and yet had antibodies in over 80 percent,” said an expert not connected with the work, Dr. Greg Poland of the Mayo Clinic. “This is encouraging news. We’ve struggled to make vaccines quickly enough against novel viruses,” he said.

Results were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a separate announcement on Thursday, Switzerland-based Novartis announced early tests on its H7N9 vaccine in 400 people showed 85 percent of them got a protective immune response after two doses. The data has not yet been published

Source: Yahoo news

Asthma May Lengthen Time to Get Pregnant

Getting pregnant may take longer for women with asthma, a new study from Denmark suggests.

Researchers analyzed information from more than 15,000 women in Denmark, including 950 who had asthma.

When asked whether they had ever spent more than a year trying to become pregnant, 27 percent of women with asthma said yes, compared to 21 percent

Women were particularly likely to experience a delay in pregnancy if they had untreated asthma, or if they had asthma and were over age 30.

The link between asthma and a prolonged time to pregnancy held even after the researchers took into account factors that could affect pregnancy chances, such as the woman’s age, body mass index and smoking status.

Overall, women with asthma had the same number of children as women without the condition, a finding that may be due, in part, to women with asthma having their first child at younger ages, said study researcher Dr. Elisabeth Juul Gade, of the Respiratory Research Unit at Bispebjerg University hospital in Copenhagen.

The reason why women with asthma generally took longer to become pregnant is not known.

It could be that women with asthma are not able to attempt pregnancy (through unprotected sex) as frequently as women without the condition, said Dr. Avner Hershlag, chief of the Center For Human Reproduction at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., who was not involved in the study.

“If you have any major medical condition that really interferes with your daily life, it’s bound to also affect your conception,” or efforts to get pregnant, Hershlag said. “When someone is sick and asthmatic, their focus changes, from ‘I’m going to get pregnant,’ to ‘I’m going to get better,'” Hershlag said.

When a woman is in stable condition and no longer having frequent attacks, she is healthier and her body may be better able to handle pregnancy, Hershlag said.

An earlier study of nearly half a million people found that women with asthma had about the same fertility rate (number of live births per 1,000 people) as those without asthma.

“Long term, there is absolutely no effect on fertility for patients with asthma,” Hershlag said.

However, the researchers hypothesized that asthma could have an effect on the uterus, and thus, potentially impact fertility. At least one previous study found an increased risk of miscarriage among women with asthma.

The inflammation that’s characteristic of asthma has been shown to affect organs other than those of the respiratory system, the researchers said. Such inflammation might alter the blood supply to the uterus, which could impair the ability of an egg to implant there, the researchers said.

Ultimately, more research is needed to determine the reason for the link between asthma and a prolonged time to pregnancy. The researchers are now carrying out such a study, and will ask women about lifestyle factors, to determine if they play a role, Gade said.

The study is published in today’s (Nov. 14) issue of the European Respiratory Journal

Source: Live Science

Eating tips to boost fertility revealed

Women watching their weight and closely following a Mediterranean-style diet that is high in vegetables, vegetable oils, fish and beans may boost their chance of becoming pregnant, according to dietitians.

Brooke Schantz, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, LUHS, said that establishing a healthy eating pattern and weight is a good first step for women who are looking to conceive.

She said that not only will a healthy diet and lifestyle potentially help with fertility, but it also may influence foetal well-being and reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy.

Schantz said that reduced intake of foods with trans and saturated fats while increasing intake of monounsaturated fats, like avocados and olive oil could help women who are looking to conceive.

Another tip was lower intake of animal protein and adding more vegetable protein and fibre to their diet.

She also said that incorporating more vegetarian sources of iron like legumes, tofu, nuts, seeds and whole grains may help women in their endeavour.

Source: ANI news

 

Let The Sunshine In for Healthy Bones

You may already know that Vitamin D stimulates the absorption of calcium and magnesium, both essential to maintaining strong and healthy bones and living happily without the fear of fractures.

But what is surprising is that scientists agree that dietary sources (like food and supplements) account for very little of the amount of D circulating in our blood.

So where can we get all the Vitamin D we need?

Time to let the sunshine in… Studies have shown that sunlight is an excellent natural source of Vitamin D3, the best form of Vitamin D, also known as Cholecalciferol.

What’s unique about Vitamin D3 is that with the help of the sun, our own bodies can produce it! How beautiful… think about this: we can build healthier bones while our bodies – hand in hand with Mother Nature – do all the work for us.

And as if the Vitamin D benefit wouldn’t be enough, you’ll be happy to know that sunlight triggers an increase in the feel-good brain chemical Serotonin. This neurotransmitter controls sleep patterns, body temperature, our sex drive, and also lifts our mood and wards off depression. No wonder we all have fun in the sun!

Spending just 20 minutes or so a few days a week in the sun, without sunscreen, can provide you with a healthy amount of Vitamin D3, that will help you build stronger bones and improve your mood as well.

It’s important to remember that the fairer your skin the less direct exposure is needed to activate Vitamin D synthesis. For people with very fair skin, just a short burst of sunshine on their skin would also be enough.

And if you’re afraid of the risks of going out to the sun without sunscreen lotion, just remember that the benefits of the moderate sun exposure outweigh the risks.

So go out and enjoy… Oh, and don’t forget to smile.

Source: Save our bones