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Gut bacteria ‘may be obesity weapon’

Obese man

A study showed that transplanting gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight, while bacteria from lean people kept them slim.

Bacteria living in our guts seem to be affecting our waistlines and harnessing them could lead to new ways of shedding the pounds, US research suggests.

The human body is teeming with thousands of species of microbes that affect health.

A study showed that transplanting gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight, while bacteria from lean people kept them slim.

The findings were published in Science.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri, took gut bacteria from pairs of twins – one obese, one thin.

The bacteria were then put into mice which had grown up in completely sterile environments and had no gut bacteria of their own.

Mice with the obese twin’s bacteria became heavier and put on more fat than mice given bacteria from a lean twin – and it was not down to the amount of food being eaten.

There were differences in the number and types of bacteria species from the lean and obese twin.

Overall it seemed those from a lean twin were better at breaking down fiber into short-chain fatty acids. It meant the body was taking up more energy from the gut, but the chemicals were preventing fatty tissue from building up and increased the amount of energy being burned.

One of the researchers, Prof Jeffrey Gordon, told the BBC’s Science in Action program: “We don’t dine alone, we dine with trillions of friends – we have to consider the microbes which live in our gut.”

However, the diet was also important for creating the right conditions for the lean twin’s bacteria to flourish. A bacterial obesity therapy seems unlikely to work alongside a a diet of greasy burgers.

Keeping both sets of mice in the same cage kept them both lean if they were fed a low-fat, high-fiber diet. Mice are coprophagic, meaning they eat each other’s droppings, and the lean twin’s bacteria were passed into the mice which started with bacteria that should have made them obese.

However, a high-fat, low-fiber diet meant the mice still piled on the pounds.

Human therapies

A human obesity treatment is unlikely to use transplants of thousands of species of bacteria from lean people’s guts as it carries the risk of also transferring infectious diseases.

Instead a search for the exact mix of bacteria which benefit weight – and the right foods to promote their growth – is more likely.

Prof Gordon said the next steps in the field would be “trying to figure out how general these effects are, what diet ingredients may promote their beneficial activities and to look forward to a time when food and the value of food is considered in light of the microbes that live in our gut – that foods will have to be designed from the inside out as well as from the outside in.”

Commenting on the research, Prof Julian Parkhill, from the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute, said he expected a future when manipulating bacteria was a part of obesity treatment.Gut bacteria

“There’s a lot of work to do, but this is proof of concept that bacteria in the gut can modulate obesity in adults, but it is diet-dependent,” he said.

He added that changing bacteria was a promising field for other diseases.

He told the BBC: “It’s an exciting new area, but I think we need to be careful in promoting it as a cure-all.

“It’s clear in specific areas – inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, Crohn’s – the microbiome is going to be important.”

 

Soil samples show Richard III suffered from roundworm

Richard III's skeleton as found in the grave

Soil from the pelvis area of Richard III’s skeleton had many roundworm eggs

Richard III suffered from a roundworm infection, a team says.

A soil sample from the region where his infected intestines would have been during life, revealed multiple roundworm eggs.

Richard III was the last Yorkist king of England, whose death at the age of 32 in the Battle of Bosworth effectively ended the Wars of the Roses

Prevalent both in medieval times and in tropical countries today, the roundworm parasite spreads from fecal contamination and can grow up to one foot long.

The work is published in the Lancet journal.

In addition to soil from the pelvis, scientists tested soil from other areas of the grave to see whether the eggs were equally distributed.

“What we found was plenty of roundworm eggs in the sacral soil, where his intestines would have been. There were no parasite eggs of any kind in the skull soil and only very low levels around the grave,” said Piers Mitchell, a medical consultant and researcher at Cambridge University.

“This shows that the significant number of eggs inside the soil must have genuinely been from his intestines and could not have been contamination from soil in the grave.”

Most soil from medieval times is likely to show some contamination as human waste was often discarded from windows onto the ground below.

Medieval farmers also used feces as a crop fertilizer which could also have quickly spread the unwelcome guest.

The eggs were identified by powerful microscopes after they had been separated from the soil using sieves. In the right conditions, the dead eggs can be preserved for hundreds of years due to the robust nature of their cell walls.

Roundworms infest the human digestive tract and use the body as a host to stay alive and reproduce. As they steal their host’s food, an infection could have resulted in malnutrition or death among people who had extremely poor diets.

Today it is thought a quarter of the population still suffer from roundworm, especially in tropical countries with poor sanitation.

Biological anthropologist Dr Piers Mitchell: “Roundworm is spread from faecal contamination of food”

The “king under the car park” was likely to have had an extremely nutritious diet so he may not have noticed many symptoms, apart from a dry cough.

Common parasites

Many medieval people would have suffered from other intestinal parasites present in meat and fish, but there was no evidence of these in the king’s remains.

This suggests that his chefs would have cooked his food very well explained Dr Mitchell.

“Parasites are killed by the thorough cooking of meat, so medieval chefs were perhaps more conscientious than you might otherwise have guessed.”

Jo Appleby, at the University of Leicester who helped uncover Richard III’s skeleton, said that roundworms were very common at the time.

It might seem surprising that Richard – who had a very noble background – was infected with roundworm, but this is something that you can pick up very easily through fecal contamination,” she told BBC News.Richard III graphic

Simon Brooker, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said it was very plausible Richard III had roundworm. He explained that eggs in the pelvic abdominal regions had also been found in other historic sites.

“Where you’ve got a large number of worms combined with poor nutritional intake, the consequences can be quite severe.

“I expect Richard III’s exposure would have been low compared to the people he ruled over. It would have been somewhat of a nuisance rather than having had any severe consequences,” Prof Brooker told BBC News.

In February 2013 a team from the University of Leicester said DNA from the bones matched that of descendants of the monarch’s family. Since then his distant relatives have been granted a review over the decision to bury his remains in Leicester.

Source: BBC News

Unlocking the secrets of the Elephant Man

Photo of Joseph Merrick and his skullThe Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, was an object of curiosity and ridicule throughout his life – studied, prodded and examined by the Victorian medical establishment. Now, 123 years after his death, scientists believe his bones contain secrets about his condition which could benefit medical science today.

Joseph Merrick began to develop abnormally from an early age, eventually being gawped at by Victorian circusgoers and examined by inquisitive doctors. The cause of his malformed head, curved spine, “lumpy” skin and overgrown right arm and hand has never been definitively explained.

Ironically, it is the medical preservation of Merrick’s skeleton that is now causing the greatest problems in unlocking his body’s secrets.

“The skeleton, which is well over a hundred years old now, is actually very clean,” says Prof Richard Trembath, vice-principal for health at Queen Mary University of London, and the custodian of Merrick’s body.

This represents a significant problem. On a number of occasions over the years the skeleton has been bleached during the preservation process. Bleach is not a good chemical to expose DNA to. It gives us an added problem in trying to extract sufficient quantities of DNA in order to undertake sequencing.”

The hope is, though, that DNA can be extracted which will determine once and for all exactly what genetic condition he suffered from.

There have been several theories. For many years it was thought he had neurofibromatosis type 1, but in more recent years doctors have come to believe he had a condition known as Proteus Syndrome, or possibly a combination of both.

A team of geneticists from Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, and the Natural History Museum are currently working on techniques to extract DNA from similar age bones which have also been bleached before beginning work on Merrick’s skeleton. They are anxious to keep any further damage to the bones to a minimum.

Bleach is sometimes used in labs to remove traces of DNA, so in many ways it is the worst possible thing to do to bones if the hope is to extract genetic information.

The genetic condition of Richard III’s remains – buried for hundreds of years below a car park in Leicester – is actually better than those of Merrick.

His extreme deformity is obvious from his skeleton, but confined to parts of his body. His skull has large growths of bone at the front of his temple and on the right side.

His right arm and hand is far bigger than his left, which appears normal, and his right femur (upper leg bone) is much bigger and thicker than the left. His spine is also badly curved, causing the whole body to be hunched.

“When Merrick was being formed in his mother’s womb it is highly likely that a genetic alteration occurred, but not until after the sperm and the egg had come together – probably at a stage when there were a number of cells, only some of which have gone on to contribute to his problems,” says Trembath.

The skeleton is kept under lock and key in a small museum in the medical school at the Royal London Hospital, and is not normally on public display. It is the same hospital where Merrick spent his later years as a friend and patient of the prominent Victorian surgeon Frederick Treves, and the place where he died at the age of 27 in April 1890.

According to Treves, Merrick died from a dislocated neck when he lay down to sleep, due to the huge weight of his head.

The team of geneticists extracting the DNA is being led by Dr Michael Simpson from King’s College London. In his lab he has been working on segments of bone to develop new techniques for obtaining genetic information from badly bleached fragments.

The team has been successful in obtaining DNA, but is still working on methods of “cleaning” the badly damaged DNA sufficiently to obtain a complete genetic sequence.

Apart from scientific curiosity in his medical condition, Trembath believes the results could help modern medical science and its knowledge of cell division.

“This is very significant overgrowth of tissue,” he says while examining the growths on the skull. “The understanding of the regulation of cell growth is one of the most fundamental things that we need to understand. It sits behind the development of tumours and we need to understand more about how tumours develop.”

He points out that Merrick himself was keen to help the Victorian doctors with their scientific investigation. More than a century on, the work continues.

“I have a sense that he is an ever willing partner in trying to help us get there. This is one of the most extreme forms of overgrowth that has ever been seen, and so there is a unique opportunity to gain some fundamental insights into human biology, and Merrick knew he was sitting on that kind of information.”

 For more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23863974

Modeling hip joint disease using 3D engineering tool

Emma and her mum

Emma and her mum battled to get a diagnosis

When 11-year-old Emma Thornton starts secondary school soon, her mother Theresa says it will be a fresh start for her because no-one will know what she has been through over the past five years.

Problems with Emma’s left hip joint have left her with difficulty walking and a painful, stiff hip which could lead to an early hip replacement when she is older.

For an active, sporty child, Theresa knows it has been tough for her daughter to come to terms with her lack of mobility.

“She found it really hard not being able to take part in playground games with her friends. She couldn’t do PE – and she just had to sit there watching everyone else doing it. As a result, she got angry and frustrated.”

Emma, who lives in north London, has Perthes’ disease, which affects the head of the femur – the ball part of the ball and socket joint of the hip – in children. It normally starts with groin, hip or knee pain and usually affects just one leg.

Typical porous structure of the bone found in the femoral head.

Typical porous structure of the bone found in the femoral head

Bone modelling

Scientists from the University of Hull, funded by Action Medical Research, have begun a research project to try to work out why some children develop it while others do not.

With the help of a three-dimensional computer modelling technique, called finite element analysis, they are investigating how the shape and orientation of the hip joint influences the disease process. Such is the scope of the engineering tool that it has also been used in the design of cars and aircraft.

Prof Michael Fagan, who is leading the team carrying out the research, says the technique has distinct advantages for this kind of medical problem where modelling of bones is required.

“It allows us to visualise the hip joint and pelvis in 3D, then vary the geometry in the model to look at the stresses and strains created on the bones.”

Prof Fagan’s theory is that Perthes’ disease occurs because of a change in the biomechanics of the hip joint.

“The thinking is that as the hip joint grows, loading is high on the joint and that can block blood supply to the femoral head causing the collapse of the bone.”

His research team are using the same techniques to study whether certain activities and exercises, such as horse riding or swimming, might have the potential to stop the progression of the disease.

Limping

At present it is not possible to predict which children will develop Perthes’ disease. By the time they’re diagnosed, their thigh bone can often be already damaged.

In Emma’s case, there were crucial delays before and after diagnosis.

She had been trampolining when her sister found her collapsed and crying on the floor, complaining that she couldn’t stand up.

“I thought she’d just pulled a muscle,” her mum remembers.

“I helped her up again and she was was limping for a few days. A few weeks later, she was still favouring her right leg and then we noticed she’d started turning her foot in.”

X-rays showed that Emma had a larger hip joint gap on her left side, but they were assured it was unlikely to be Perthes’ disease.

But Theresa wasn’t convinced. It was only after she researched Emma’s symptoms on the internet and found out more about Perthes’ that she demanded that Emma’s X-rays be re-examined.

How Perthes’ disease affects the hip joint in children

An MRI scan eventually confirmed a diagnosis of Perthes’ in July 2008 – but then there were further delays.

Salvage procedure’

After surgery to release a tendon in her groin at a local hospital, Emma was advised to wear a hip brace for six weeks but when they finally decided to go and see a specialist at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, they were told she had missed the window for corrective surgery.

“He could see that she had a severe condition. He said all he could do was carry out a salvage procedure for now,” Theresa says.

Hip joint detail

How Perthes’ disease affects the hip joint in children

Emma has now had surgery to help correct the angle of her hip using temporary metal plates.

Most children are lucky enough to recover from Perthes’ disease naturally without any long-term disability, using a combination of physiotherapy, rest and plaster casts or braces.

Emma’s case may not be quite as simple but she is now coping well and, although she limps, she can run, jump and swim and play football – as long as she doesn’t overdo it.

Starting a new school could be perfect timing and give her a whole new lease of life.

 

Sleep ‘boosts brain cell numbers’

Boy sleeping

Scientists are only just unravelling the precise mysteries of why we sleep

Scientists believe they have discovered a new reason why we need to sleep – it replenishes a type of brain cell.

Sleep ramps up the production of cells that go on to make an insulating material known as myelin which protects our brain’s circuitry. The findings, so far in mice, could lead to insights about sleep’s role in brain repair and growth as well as the disease MS, says the Wisconsin team.

The work is in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Dr Chiara Cirelli and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin found that the production rate of the myelin making cells, immature oligodendrocytes, doubled as mice slept. The increase was most marked during the type of sleep that is associated with dreaming – REM or rapid eye movement sleep – and was driven by genes.

In contrast, the genes involved in cell death and stress responses were turned on when the mice were forced to stay awake.

Precisely why we need to sleep has baffled scientists for centuries. It’s obvious that we need to sleep to feel rested and for our mind to function well – but the biological processes that go on as we slumber have only started to be uncovered relatively recently.

Growth and repair

Dr Cirelli said: “For a long time, sleep researchers focused on how the activity of nerve cells differs when animals are awake versus when they are asleep.

“Now it is clear that the way other supporting cells in the nervous system operate also changes significantly depending on whether the animal is asleep or awake.”

The researchers say their findings suggest that sleep loss might aggravate some symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that damages myelin.

Scientists are only just unravelling the precise mysteries of why we sleep

Nerve cells wrapped in myelin

Myelin ensheaths nerves to protect them and speed up their signalling

In MS, the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the myelin coating of nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

Future studies could look at whether or not sleep affects the symptoms of MS, says Dr Cirelli.

Her team is also interested in testing whether lack of sleep, especially during adolescence, may have long-term consequences for the brain.

Sleep appears necessary for our nervous systems to work properly, says the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

Deep sleep coincides with the release of growth hormone in children and young adults. Many of the body’s cells also show increased production and reduced breakdown of proteins during deep sleep.

Since proteins are the building blocks needed for cell growth and for repair of damage from factors like stress and ultraviolet rays, deep sleep may truly be “beauty sleep”, says NINDS.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23932577

Laser-guided surgery finds brain cancer’s boundary

Brain tumour

The edges of the tumour in blue are clear against the green healthy tissue

Laser-guided surgery could improve the odds of removing all of a brain tumor by clearly highlighting its edges, US researchers say.

Surgeons are cautious with brain tumors as removing the surrounding tissue could lead to disability.

A technique, reported in Science Translational Medicine, used a laser to analyze the chemistry of the tissue and show the tumor in a different color.

Brain tumor researchers said it could be an “exciting development”.

Removing a brain tumor is a balancing act – takes too little and the cancer could return, take too much and it seriously affects a patient’s quality of life.

This technique could be an exciting development in visualizing tumor tissue, which is the first step in enhancing removal of disease”

The key knows the boundary of the tumor. Surgeons take sections of the tumor and surrounding tissue and look under a microscope for the differences between the two to find cancer’s edge.

A team at the University of Michigan Medical School and Harvard University has come up with a new way of analyzing the tissue, called SRS microscopy, while it is still in the brain.

A laser is fired at the tissue. However, the beam of light’s properties is changed depending on what it hits. The differing chemistry of a cancerous cell and normal brain tissue mean the laser can show a surgeon the outside edge of a tumor.

Dr Daniel Orringer told the BBC: “Neurosurgery is plagued by a problem, it’s very difficult to see when a brain tumor ends and normal tissue begins.

“If you’re removing a colon cancer you can take 2cm either side with no damage, but in the brain it could disable a patient.

“SRS microscopy allows us to see the margins on a microscopic scale.”

Smelling knife

The method has been tested in mice and on human brain samples, but actual trials in patients are still needed.

This is just the latest in a series of developments aimed at improving surgery. A team at Imperial College London has developed a knife that can detect the “smell” of cancer so it knows if it is cutting through tumor or healthy tissue.

Dr Colin Watts, a Cancer Research UK brain tumor expert at the University of Cambridge, said: “It needs to be tested in a clinical trial, but this technique could be an exciting development in visualizing tumor tissue, which is the first step in enhancing removal of disease.

“A crucial factor will be to ensure that patient safety is not compromised. This technique is particularly exciting because it has the potential for helping us to remove tissue at the tumor/brain interface from where recurrent disease can emerge.

“It will also be interesting to determine if SRS microscopy can be used in tumors that recur after treatment.”

 Source BBC news

Heart gene therapy trial begins

Mrs Gedda, from Essex, is among 200 patients being enrolled on a gene therapy trial to test whether introducing genetic material into damaged heart cells can improve their function

It is 18 months since Carol Gedda suffered a massive heart attack. It left her with just 20% of her heart functioning. “I have a lot of trouble with stairs, and sometimes I can even run out of breath in a conversation”, says Mrs Gedda, who is 65.

She is one of at least 750,000 people in the UK with heart failure. It occurs when the heart is damaged and becomes unable to pump blood adequately.

There are treatments for the condition but nothing so far that can reverse the damage.

Mrs Gedda, from Essex, is among 200 patients being enrolled on a gene therapy trial to test whether introducing genetic material into damaged heart cells can improve their function.

Researchers at Imperial College London found that levels of the protein SERCA2a are lower in patients with heart failure.

Royal Brompton Hospital in London, where Mrs Gedda is being treated, is one of only two British centres taking part in the international study; The Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Glasgow is also involved.

Before joining the trial Mrs Gedda had baseline measurements taken for her fitness.

She walked up and down a 30m hospital corridor for six minutes – the distance she travelled was noted by one of the hospital researchers.

Her heart function was also analysed.

At Royal Brompton, the gene therapy is delivered at the NIHR biomedical research unit, via a coronary angiogram under local anaesthetic.

Trojan horse

The researchers have ‘hidden’ the gene inside a genetically modified virus which is able to latch on to heart muscle cells but is believed to be entirely harmless.

The virus acts like a Trojan horse, delivering the extra DNA into the nucleus of the heart cells.

The hope is the gene will prompt the heart cells to produce more of the SERCA2a protein and repair some of the damaged heart muscle.

Half of the patients will receive the gene therapy, while the rest will get a placebo or dummy drug.

“I’m delighted to be on the trial,” says Mrs Gedda. ” Of course I don’t know whether I’ve received the gene therapy or the placebo but it is exciting to be part of it. I have three sons and my heart problem is partly genetic so it could be helpful to my family in the future.”

The trial, known as CUPID2, is funded by the US biotechnology company, Celladon. It will be around three years before the results are known.

Dr Alexander Lyon, British Heart Foundation senior lecturer and consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton hospital and Imperial College stresses that the treatment is far from being a cure, but says there is great excitement about the trial.

“A few patients in the United States who received the same dose we are using appear to have done extremely well.

“Importantly, early trials suggest the treatment is safe. But we need this large study before we can be sure the gene therapy really works. If we could find an effective treatment, that would be very exciting.”

David Palmer, from Norfolk was the first patient in the UK to have the treatment.

The left side of his heart is enlarged and he suffers arrhythmias – irregular heart rhythms.

He said: “My heart is forever jumping out rhythm – I don’t pass out just feel faint and very weak.

“Once I fell into a fridge in Sainsburys. I wasn’t hurt but it was a bit embarrassing.”

Mr Palmer, aged 50, says he is unsuitable for a heart transplant because he has had the condition so long, which leaves the gene therapy trial as his best hope:

“For people like me who are in the last chance saloon it gives us the opportunity to stabilise our condition and live that bit longer. It’s far from being a cure but if it works then it would be a major advance for huge numbers of patients.”

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23962607

Inner ear disorders ‘linked to hyperactivity

Human ear

children and teenagers with inner-ear disorders – especially those that affect hearing and balance – often have behavioral problems.

Inner-ear problems could be a cause of hyperactive behavior, research suggests.

A study on mice, published in Science, said such problems caused changes in the brain that led to hyperactivity. It could lead to the development of new targets for behavior disorder treatments, the US team says.

A UK expert said the study’s findings were “intriguing” and should be investigated further.

Behavioral problems such as ADHD are usually thought to originate in the brain. But scientists have observed that children and teenagers with inner-ear disorders – especially those that affect hearing and balance – often have behavioral problems.

However, no causal link has been found.

The researchers in this study suggest inner-ear disorders lead to problems in the brain which then also affect behavior.

Gene mutation

The team from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York noticed some mice in the lab were particularly active – constantly chasing their tails.

They were found to be profoundly deaf and have disorders of the inner ear – of both the cochlea, which is responsible for hearing, and the vestibular system, which is responsible for balance.

The researchers found a mutation in the Slc12a2 gene, also found in humans. Blocking the gene’s activity in the inner ears of healthy mice caused them to become increasingly active.

The researchers then examined the striatum, an area in the centre of the brain area that controls movement. They found higher-than-normal levels of two proteins, pERK and pCREB.

Mice with the gene flaw were given injections of haloperidol, a medicine already used to treat tics – uncontrollable movement – in humans.

It was seen to counteract the high protein levels, and mouse activity patterns returned to normal.

The researchers suggest the same process could be targeted in people, and that medications could be developed to help manage hyperactivity in children with inner-ear disorders.

Prof Jean Hebert, the lead scientist, said: “Our study provides the first evidence that a sensory impairment, such as inner-ear dysfunction, can induce specific molecular changes in the brain that cause maladaptive [counterproductive] behaviors traditionally considered to originate exclusively in the brain.”

Anita Thapar, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Cardiff University’s Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, said it was an “intriguing study and set of findings”.

Prof Thapar, whose research has suggested there could be a genetic link to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), added: “It certainly raises the issue that we ought to critically consider what contributes to the links between sensory impairments and specific behaviors’/disorders.”

But she added there should be caution about directly extrapolating the findings to humans.

“ADHD, like most neuropsychiatric and medical disorders, is not caused by a single mutation.

“On the other hand animal models allow for experimental manipulation in a way that cannot be achieved in humans and the results can help shape hypotheses to test in humans.”

Source : BBC News

 

Lung diseases cause one in 10 deaths across Europe

tobacco smoking as “the most important health hazard in Europe

Lung conditions are the cause of one in 10 of all deaths in Europe and smoking is a major factor, says a report from the European Respiratory Society.

It says deaths from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will rise over the next 20 years because of past smoking rates.

But a British lung charity says lung disease kills one in four in the UK.

Yet it does not receive priority when it comes to prevention, treatment or research funding, it says.

The data, presented in a publication called the European Lung White Book, uses the latest data from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to analyze trends in lung disease.

Disease burden

In the WHO European Region, which stretches from the Atlantic to Central Asia, it found that the four most commonly fatal lung diseases – lower respiratory infections (including pneumonia), COPD, lung cancers and tuberculosis – accounted for one-tenth of all deaths.

Among the 28 countries of the European Union, however, these diseases account for one in eight deaths, the White Book said.

Only Belgium (117 deaths per 100,000 population), Denmark, Hungary and Ireland had higher death rates from lung disease than the UK, at 112 per 100,000 people.

Finland and Sweden had the lowest mortality rates of 53.7 and 55.7 per 100,000.

But the report said the proportion of total deaths attributed to a lung condition is highest in the UK and Ireland, a figure which the British Lung Foundation puts at one in four people.

Health hazard’

The data in the White Book also shows that half of the total socio-economic costs of respiratory disease can be put down to smoking.

It describes tobacco smoking as “the most important health hazard in Europe” and it maintains that smoking is the main preventable cause of death from illnesses such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and coronary artery disease.

While smoking rates in many high-death rate countries such as Denmark and the UK have fallen significantly since the 1970s, the report says the long-term effects of those habits are keeping cases of lung cancer and COPD at high levels.

This means the proportion of deaths caused by lung conditions is likely to remain stable over the next 20 years, even though a decrease in lung infections is predicted.

 

For More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23971689

 

How to spot vision problems in children

kid_glasses.jpgThere are many conditions that, although extremely rare, can cause blindness in a child if not caught on time. One such condition is pediatric glaucoma, which occurs when the pressure in the eye is elevated, causing damage to the optic nerve.

Other more common conditions that can affect a child’s vision include strabismus, a crossing of the eyes, or amblyopia, poor vision in one or both of the eyes. If untreated, pediatric eye conditions like these can lead to long term problems with vision, hinder the development of the eye and cause problems with socialization and learning.

I spoke to Dr. Shreya Prabhu, an assistant clinical professor of ophthalmology at Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York, to find out what parents need to know:

What signs and symptoms should parents be aware of?
There are two types of pediatric glaucoma – infantile and juvenile.

Infantile glaucoma, which becomes evident within months of birth, is associated with several visible symptoms that parents may be able to spot, according to Prabhu.

“(Children) don’t seem to want to open their eyes in the light, the surface of the eye looks cloudy, their eye looks teary,” Prabhu told FoxNews.com. “(These are) all things parents can look out for.”

Some infants with glaucoma will also have enlarged corneas – or unusually large eyes – a trait that can be difficult for parents to spot, but can sometimes be recognized by a pediatrician.

However, juvenile glaucoma, which develops during adolescence, is often asymptomatic.

“It’s only picked up if child goes for a vision exam and something is detected like poor vision or they go for a routine evaluation and someone looks inside their eyes,” Prabhu said.

If adolescents begin to experience problems with peripheral vision, or complain of ‘tunnel vision,’ parents should take them to a doctor immediately, as these are signs that the disease has become more advanced.

Conditions like strabismus are much more easy to spot because they cause a visible crossing or wandering of the eye. However, poor vision can be more difficult for parents to notice without the help of an eye exam.

How early should a child get an eye examination? What should that exam cover?
Doctors will typically perform simple vision tests from birth to rule out major problems in infants, according to Prabhu. Then, as children get older, many will receive vision tests at school, in addition to regular eye evaluations during their yearly visit to their pediatrician.

“They’ll do things like check pupils, how well they seem to see with each eye, do an external exam and look for a red reflux in the retina… that (red eye) when people take pictures,” Prabhu said. “If you don’t see that red spot in the center of the eye, there could be something in the eye like a cataract or other things obscuring that.”

Doctors should also ask parents about any family history of eye conditions. If the pediatrician spots a problem, they will typically refer the child to an ophthalmologist for further treatment.

“Generally, the screening guidelines say (children) don’t need an ophthalmologist unless something is going on – they’re showing signs or failing vision tests at pediatrician or school,” Prabhu said.

What kinds of early interventions can make a difference?
Spotting vision problems early in a child’s life can play a crucial role in preserving a child’s eyesight.

“The benefit is, in congenital glaucoma, they can have severe vision loss if it is not treated early,” Prabhu said. “The later it’s diagnosed, the more ground you’ve lost.”

Juvenile glaucoma can typically be treated with eye drops, pills or surgery, while for infants, the best treatment option is usually surgical.

Additionally, being vigilant about a child’s eye health can completely resolve some cases of crossed eyes or poor vision.

Crossed eyes can be treated with a combination of glasses or surgical interventions, depending on the origin of the problem. Furthermore, poor vision can also be treated with glasses, or occasionally with eye patches to strengthen the weaker eye.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/05/how-to-spot-vision-problems-in-children/#ixzz2e5vKPuMt