Month: May 2014

New app may detect mood swings associated with bipolar disorder

New app may detect mood swings associated with bipolar disorder

A new mobile phone app is being developed that may help mental health professionals detect very early signs of depression or mania – the opposite extremes of bipolar disorder.

The app, created and under investigation by a team at the University of Michigan, monitors speech patterns as people use their cell phones. By using computer programs to assess the tone and rate of the speech, along with other variables, the researchers say they have encouraging findings that the app can identify very early signs of a depressive episode or a manic episode.

The University of Michigan team calls their research project PRIORI, as they hope that this marriage of mental health assessment and technology can yield early detection of recurrent episodes of bipolar disorder, even before it would be obvious to the individual or a clinician. Slowed speech, lower tone of speech, or hesitating speech on phone calls could precede a person becoming depressed, complaining of low energy or low mood. And speaking quickly, with lots of inflection or exclamations, could precede someone displaying the full euphoria, sleeplessness and uninhibited behaviors that can be associated with mania.

The researchers point out that privacy is maintained for those using the app, because the content of their conversations is encrypted. But, obviously, privacy remains an issue, because anyone with access to data from the app would know whether the person being monitored might be getting depressed or manic. And the app or another like it could yield data to detect anxiety.

Hence, third parties could potentially install this app, or another, on mobile phones (with or without the knowledge of the owners of the phones) and potentially determine if those individuals are mentally well or not. Needless to say, the government could use such an app, to note whether an individual or many individuals are showing mood volatility that might be associated with a pending protest or a strike, for example.

Most of us are not keen on having our mental health monitored by anyone other than ourselves or our medical professionals. This app, misdirected, could pose just such a risk.

Still, for all the caution, the promise of PRIORI is that it might help people who choose to use it and, perhaps, choose to send the data to their doctors. This could help medical professionals jump on the earliest signs of bipolar disorder, which affects over 5 million Americans and costs hundreds of thousands of lives per year.

Source: fox news

Miracle baby’ survives 11-story fall from apartment window in Minnesota

miracle baby 1

Fifteen-month-old boy breaks spine and suffers multiple injuries but will live, doctors say

A 15-month-old US boy has survived an 11-story fall from a balcony at his parents’ apartment in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Musa Dayib has been nicknamed “the miracle baby” after escaping death despite slipping through the railing and making a perilous fall.

In addition to fractures to both his arms, his backbone and his ribs, Dayib also suffered a concussion and is breathing through a ventilator. In critical but stable condition, he is expected to survive.

The boy was apparently saved by his soft landing spot, on a mulched area. “If you and I fell that far, we would be dead,” Tina Slusher said from the paediatric intensive care unit at Hennepin County Medical Center, the Star Tribune reported.

“He’s a baby and … they tend to be more flexible and pliable than you and I would be. Having said that, it’s a real gift from God that he made it because this is a huge fall.”

The Tribune said the boy, from the large Somali American community of Minneapolis, fell from his family’s balcony around 8:00pm Sunday.miracle baby 2

“When people found out he survived, no one could believe it,” said local community activist Abdirizak Bihi, who spent time at the hospital with the family on Monday. The boy’s uncle Abdirahim Ahmed told NBC television affiliate KARE he was worried about Dayib’s parents.

“I don’t think my brother and his wife will recover from this. They really torture themselves,” he said. Dayib’s mother was running errands nearby while his father watched him and his three-year-old sister. The father was getting something in another room when his daughter ran over and said her brother fell.

“It took place in less than a minute,” Bihi said, adding that it was the daughter who had apparently opened the balcony door. Slusher said it was too early to tell whether Dayib would suffer any long-term complications from his big fall, but he will likely be out of the hospital in weeks or months.

“I expect him to survive,” she said. “It’s amazing.” The apartment building’s owners and managers said the balcony had passed inspection when the 1,303-unit Riverside Plaza underwent a $65 million renovation in 2011-2012.

About half of the units are equipped with balconies. Residents have suggested installing an extra lock or latch to secure the door that opens to the balconies, according to KARE.

Source: telegraph

Living heart tissue grown

Living heart tissue grown

In a first, scientists have merged stem cell and ‘organ-on-a-chip’ technologies to grow functioning human heart tissue carrying an inherited cardiovascular disease.

The research is a big step forward for personalised medicine as now, a chunk of tissue containing a patient’s specific genetic disorder can be replicated in the laboratory, a promising research says.

In this case, the scientists modelled the cardiovascular disease Barth syndrome – a rare X-linked cardiac disorder caused by mutation of a single gene called Tafazzin, or TAZ.

The untreatable disorder primarily appears in boys and is associated with a number of symptoms affecting heart and skeletal muscle function.

“In the case of the cells grown out of patients with Barth syndrome, we saw much weaker contractions and irregular tissue assembly. Being able to model the disease from a single cell all the way up to heart tissue, I think that’s a big advance,” explained Kevin Kit Parker from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

The researchers took skin cells from two Barth syndrome patients and manipulated the cells to become stem cells that carried these patients’ TAZ mutations.

Instead of using the stem cells to generate single heart cells in a dish, the cells were grown on chips lined with human extracellular matrix proteins that mimic their natural environment – tricking the cells into joining together as they would if they were forming a diseased human heart.

The engineered diseased tissue contracted very weakly, as would the heart muscle seen in Barth syndrome patients.

The investigators then used genome editing to mutate TAZ in normal cells.

On the other hand, delivering the TAZ gene product to diseased tissue in the laboratory corrected the contractile defect, creating the first tissue-based model of correction of a genetic heart disease.

“Whether that can be achieved in an animal model or a patient is a different story, but if that could be done, it would suggest a new therapeutic angle,” said Harvard scientist William Pu.

Their work has been published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Source: zee news

Control sugar: Limit fruit juice intake to once a day

juice

The appalling diets of the nation’s teenagers have been exposed by a report which shows that many are already putting themselves at risk of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. And last night health experts warned that fruit juice – seen by many as a healthy option – should be drunk no more than once a day because of its high sugar content.

Girls and boys aged 11 to 19 typically eat 42 per cent too much sugar and 14 per cent too much saturated fat.

Only 10 per cent of teenage boys and 7 per cent of teenage girls manage to get their five portions of fruit and veg a day.
Adults do not fare a great deal better. Only a third get their five-a-day and the diet of the average adult exceeds recommended sugar limits by 10 per cent.

The report, the Government’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey, also shows that children aged ten and under typically exceed the recommended daily limit of sugar by 34 per cent.
Their main sources of sugar are fruit juice, soft drinks, cereal bars, biscuits and cakes.

It reveals that adults are eating half the recommended weekly amount of oily fish – which protects against heart disease, cancer and dementia – while teenagers and children only manage a fifth of this amount.

The survey, which involved 4,000 adults and children between 2008 and 2012, says 48 per cent of men and women have above-normal levels of cholesterol, putting them at higher risk of heart disease and strokes.
Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘This study paints a clear picture that too many people, especially children, are not eating healthily enough.

‘This puts them at greater risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity now or in the future. There is no magic bullet to solve this problem. Parents, schools, restaurants, retailers and the food industry all have a role to play.

‘But the Government can fire the first shot by implementing a 9pm watershed ban on junk food marketing to stop children being bombarded with advertising about products high in fats, salts and sugars. We also need stringent regulation to protect children from online marketing tactics.’

There is also concern that policies such as the NHS’s Change4Life programme are having little effect because only healthy adults and children pay any attention.

The initiative, which has cost taxpayers £65million since its launch in January 2009, consists of television adverts, a website, a helpline and locally-run sports clubs all aimed at curbing the obesity epidemic.
The scheme also produces posters for schools, community clubs, GP surgeries and hospitals urging the public to eat their five- a-day, take regular exercise and cut portion sizes.

Dr Ian Campbell, of the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘In spite of a raft of measures designed to encourage us to eat a healthier diet we are, as a nation, failing miserably.

‘If we really care about the health of our children we need to take far more decisive action. ‘We need to regulate the food industry to make healthy choices easier, more attractive and cheaper.’

Dr Alison Tedstone, the chief nutritionist at Public Health England, the Government agency that released the report, said fruit juice was a good option as one of the recommended five fruit portions a day.
But she warned: ‘It should only be drunk once a day and with a meal because it can be high in sugar.’

In March, Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer, said the Government may have to introduce a sugar tax to help make the nation’s diet more healthy.

Later that month the World Health Organisation urged the public to cut their sugar intake by half to six teaspoons a day.
Yesterday Labour MP Keith Vaz called for food labels to include the numbers of teaspoons of sugar in all products.

Source: daily mail

29 Amazing Benefits Of Amla Juice For Skin, Hair And Health

amla-juice

Amla or Indian gooseberry is popular since decades due to its nutritional benefits. In India, this fruit is used in making pickles, chutneys, jams and murabbas. Amla juice is a healthy drink as it is a storehouse of vitamin C and other nutrients which provide an array of health and beauty benefits. Amla fruit is greatly renowned and amla juice is also used in Ayurvedic medicine.

It is regarded as the juice of immortality or the magic potion which keeps you young and fit. Drinking amla juice twice a day can do wonders for your body and skin. It not only improves the appearance of your skin but also helps maintain proper body functions. It also makes your hair grow stronger.

Amla juice is a great drink to recharge your energy for the rest of the day. Being a storehouse of vitamin C and minerals like iron, it can prevent various diseases and improves your health. Regular intake of this juice provides you the following health benefits.

1. Relieves Asthma And Bronchitis:

Drinking amla juice with honey twice daily can relieve asthma and bronchitis complications. It also reduces the incidence of chronic cough, allergic asthma and tuberculosis.

2. Burns Fat:

Amla juice can cure obesity by increasing protein levels which in turn helps in reducing unwanted fat. It has the ability to create a positive nitrogen balance. It reduces the cholesterol levels, thus minimizing the risk of heart attacks.

3. Relieves Constipation And Piles:

Amla juice helps in relieving constipation caused due to piles. It also regulates the bowel movements and cures chronic constipation.

4. Treatment of Gastric Disorders:

Amla juice is great treatment for gastric disorders and hyperchlorhydria (burning sensation in abdomen).It is a good remedy for diarrhea and dysentery. Besides piles and constipation, it helps maintain healthy liver functions. Amla juice is effective in treating peptic ulcers and acidity. If you have acidity problems, you can take amla juice with pure ghee everyday twice a day. Read Also http://www.texilaconnect.com/ayurvedic-remedies-for-hair-loss/

5. Blood Purifier:

Amla juice acts as a blood purifier by flushing out toxins from the body. Regular intake of this juice purifies your blood as well as helps increase hemoglobin and red blood cell counts.

6. Eye Health:

Regular intake of amla juice helps in improving eyesight and nearsightedness as well as controls the onset of cataracts. It also minimizes intraocular tension. It counters problems like reddening, itching and watering of eyes.

7. Beneficial For Heart:

Amla juice is considered a great remedy for heart problems as it makes the heart muscles strong, thus enabling the heart to pump blood easily.

8. Controls Diabetes:

Amla juice taken with turmeric powder and honey helps in controlling diabetes.

9. Cooling Agent:

Amla juice contains 20 times more vitamin C than orange juice. This vitamin improves the tannins that are required to shield heat and light. During summer season, this juice keeps your skin cool by sorting out heat from the body. It also acts as a shield against radiation by protecting you against the harmful UV rays.

10. Soothes Inflammation:

The anti-inflammatory properties in amla juice help in reducing the swelling in the joints caused by arthritis. By reducing inflammation, it also protects and eases the tissues of the digestive tract.

11. Oral Health:

Daily intake of amla juice wards off bad breath and strengthens teeth. Gargling with a mixture of water and amla juice can provide relief from painful mouth ulcers.

12. Treatment of Insomnia:

Amla juice is effective in curing insomnia. All you need to do is take fresh amla juice with a mixture of coarse powder of nutmeg; and experience a sound and peaceful sleep.

13. Prevents Cancer:

Amla juice is rich in antioxidants, particularly superoxide dismutase (SOD), which protect against the formation of free radicals. Thus, regular intake of this juice helps in preventing cancer.

14. Bone Health:

Regular consumption of amla juice lowers the osteoclasts, the cells that are responsible for breaking down the bones.

15. Other Benefits:

Amla juice comprises of many minerals and vitamins such as carotene, phosphorus, calcium, iron and vitamin B complex; and hence, is a powerful antioxidant. It protects against oxidative stress by eliminating free radicals. It fortifies our liver, strengthens your lung, nourishes your brain, improves muscle tone, improves your urinary system and balances stomach acids. In fact, according to Ayurveda, regular consumption of amla juice promotes longevity.

Benefits Of Amla Juice For Skin

Amla juice works wonders for your skin as it is loaded with vitamin C and other antioxidants. Some of the benefits of amla juice for skin are as follows.

16. Lightens Complexion:

The antioxidants and vitamin C present in amla juice brighten your skin and impart a natural glow to it. Drinking amla juice with the addition of honey or applying it as a face pack is great for making your complexion lighter and brighter. It also keeps your skin free from blemishes.

17. Anti-ageing Benefits:

Amla juice helps to maintain the youthful look of your skin as it contains a lot of antioxidants. Vitamin C, in particular, acts to keep your skin young for a longer time. Thus, regular intake of amla juice delays the effects of premature ageing such as fine lines and wrinkles, dark spots etc.

18. Treatment of Pigmentation:

One of the benefits of drinking amla juice regularly is that it provides you with a glowing and flawless skin. It brightens your skin and reduces pigmentation. You can also apply amla juice on your face with a cotton wool and rinse off after a few minutes. Keep your eyes shut while doing so. Doing this regularly will lighten the marks and pigmentation.

19. Tones and Tightens Skin:

Decrease in the skin collagen causes your skin tissue to lose its firmness and softness, resulting in sagging skin. As stated earlier, amla juice is rich in vitamin C which boosts the production of collagen cells in the skin, thus making your skin soft, supple and youthful as well as tones and tightens your skin.

20. Treatment of Acne and Pimples:

Amla juice is perfect for the treatment of acne and pimple scars. Applying a paste made from amla for 10 to 15 minutes will heal the spots as well as decrease the acne and pimples. Moreover, since it is a natural blood purifier, it fights the microorganisms in the skin, thus keeping skin infections as well as acne and pimples at bay. Hence, drinking amla juice on a regular basis helps to keep your skin clear and flawless.

21. Exfoliates And Cleanses Skin:

Amla juice is an excellent cleanser whether ingested or applied topically. Being a mild exfoliant, it helps in removing the dead skin cells. If your skin is sensitive, you can dilute it with some water before applying.

22. Repairs Damaged Tissues:

Amla juice has good healing properties due to the presence of vitamin C and other antioxidants which can speed up the damaged tissue repair, thus providing you with a healthy and clear skin. It also combats the problem of dry and scaly skin.

Amla Juice Benefits For Hair

Amla has been considered as a hair tonic and so amla juice also plays an important role in making your hair healthier and stronger. It is an effective natural remedy for several hair problems. Some of its benefits in hair care are as follows.

23. Strengthens Hair:

Amla juice strengthens your hair follicles, thus encouraging hair growth. You can apply a mixture of amla and lemon juice on your scalp and leave it for 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse off with warm water. This will strengthen your hair from roots and make it shinier.

24. Prevents Premature Graying:

Amla juice is very beneficial for those suffering from premature graying of hair. This is because it is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C which prevent premature graying of hair.

25. Treatment of Dandruff:

Dandruff is a common problem these days and having amla juice is an effective way of getting rid of it. Regular consumption of this juice prevents accumulation of dandruff on your scalp.

26. Improves Pigmentation:

Amla juice helps to improve pigmentation and color of hair and makes it darker and thicker. It is used as an effective ingredient in hair dyes and other hair care products. It is great for the treatment of hair discoloration and graying hair.

27. Good Conditioner:

Amla juice acts as a great conditioner for dry and rough hair. You can mix some amla juice with henna and apply it on your hair. This will counteract the drying nature of henna, thus providing you with healthy and conditioned hair. You can also use it as a hair wash to add extra shine and bounce.

28. Scalp Cleanser:

You can mix amla juice with an egg, beat it and massage your hair with it. Amla juice will mask the smell of eggs and provide you with shiny, silky and squeaky clean nourished scalp.

29. Prevents Hair Problems:

Besides strengthening your hair, regular consumption of amla juice helps to deal with several hair problems like hair loss, split ends and frizzy hair.

Hence amla juice offers countless benefits for your skin, hair and health by enriching your body with vital nutrients. It deserves to be incorporated in your diet and can be a healthy alternative for various dietary supplements sans the negative effects.

Source: style craze

UK teen who raised $5 million for cancer research dies

Stephen_Sutton_AP

Comedian Ricky Gervais and singer Barry Manilow are among those paying tribute to a teenager from central England who inspired a nation to give 3 million pounds ($5 million) to support cancer research.

In a posting on his Facebook page, Stephen Sutton’s mother said he died peacefully in his sleep Wednesday.

Using social media, the 19-year-old with incurable bowel cancer shared a list of the 46 things he wished to do before he died. Urging followers to support the Teenage Cancer Trust as they followed along, he went sky-diving, played drums before a crowd and hugged an elephant.

The page evolved, with Sutton’s goal ultimately being simply to help others.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who had visited him in the hospital, praised his “incredible” efforts.

Living near foreclosed property linked to higher blood pressure

home-foreclosures

Living near foreclosed property may increase your risk of higher blood pressure, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

The study provides the first evidence that foreclosed property may affect neighbors’ systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading.

Neighborhood environment is an important social determinant of cardiovascular health, including blood pressure. The scale of the recent U.S. housing crisis has prompted the public health community to seek a better understanding of how foreclosure activity might impact health. The number of foreclosures spiked in the United States in 2007-10 when more than 6 million homeowners fell behind on their mortgages and banks took ownership of the homes, or foreclosed.

Researchers reviewed data from 1,740 participants (mostly white, 53 percent women) in 1987-2008 in the Framingham (Massachusetts) Offspring Cohort, which is part of the Framingham Heart Study. The researchers distinguished between real-estate-owned foreclosures, which are owned by lenders and typically sit vacant, and foreclosures purchased by third-party buyers, which are generally put into productive use.

Researchers found each additional foreclosed property within 100 meters (328 feet) of participants’ homes was associated with an average increase of 1.71 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure. The association only applied to properties that were real-estate owned and there was no effect from foreclosed properties more than 100 meters from participants’ homes.

“The increases in blood pressure observed could be due in part to unhealthy stress from residents’ perception that their own properties are less valuable, their streets less attractive or safe and their neighborhoods less stable,” said Mariana Arcaya, Sc.D., M.C.P., study lead author and Yerby Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies in Cambridge, Mass. “Safety could also be a concern that affects their ability to exercise in these neighborhoods.”

“Healthcare providers, particularly those serving neighborhoods still recovering from the recent housing crisis, should be aware of foreclosure activity as a possible source of unhealthy stress for residents,” Arcaya said.

Because the study involved predominately white, middle-class, suburban neighborhoods with single-family homes, research on different populations in urban and rural settings is needed, Arcaya said.

High blood pressure affects nearly 76 million people in the United States and is a major contributor to heart disease and stroke. Risk factors include genetics, advanced age, poor nutrition and excessive body weight and alcohol consumption. Stress and other factors may also contribute to high blood pressure.

Source: science daily

Five ways cherries make lives happier

cherry-lives-250x168

A powerful punch in a compact red fruit, the cherry is a vital part of our health. According to Fox News, cherries have the ability to do everything from reducing inflammation to aiding in weight loss.

Antioxidants are Cancer Fighters

Cherries are stuffed with super food antioxidants that are believed to help fight off cancer by destroying cancerous cells. As noted in Livestrong, cherries remove free radicals from the body, which helps in reducing aging and disease. A 2009 study from the University of Michigan, as reported in Medical News Today, noted that eating one and a half cups of tart cherries had a significant increase in the levels of anthocyanins, which are antioxidants that give cherries their brilliant red glow.

Weight Loss Aid

This little red fruit features 2.7 grams of dietary fiber per cup. Fiber is essential for generating a full feeling when eating, and it fills up the stomach to reduce the instance of overeating. Additionally, since fiber is not absorbed in the body, but rather pushed through into the stool, a person will absorb less calories per serving. Furthermore, as noted by Huffington Post, a cup of cherries has only 100 calories, making for a low calorie snack that is packed with nutrients.

Skip the Vitamin Supplement

When you eat a cup of cherries, you are getting a substantial boost in iron, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. Cherries are also great sources of B vitamins including vitamin B6, riboflavin and thiamin. Additionally, this fruit contains no sodium or saturated fat, so you are getting all of the healthy benefits without any negative affects. Skip the bowl of sugar laden cereal for breakfast and instead get your vitamin fix from a bowl full of cherries.

Save Your Heart

High blood pressure is the leading cause of heart disease, which is the number one cause of death for Americans as noted by the CDC. Include cherries in your regular diet as a way to protect yourself from this debilitating disease. Fox News reports that a single cup of cherries has as much potassium as a banana, without the added starch and sugar. Potassium is essential for lowering blood pressure as it removes excess sodium from the body. Balancing sodium and potassium levels is priority for prevention of hypertension, aka high blood pressure.
Arthritis Relief for Dessert

If you suffer from arthritis, you’ll appreciate the ability of Bing cherries in reducing caustic uric acid. This acid causes painful inflammation that leaves arthritic individuals in misery. Eat two cups of Bing cherries in order to reduce the level of uric acid in the body by up to 15 percent. Additionally, cherries can reduce the levels of C-reactive protein produced by the body, which is another factor related to arthritis. Give your joints a boost with a bowl full of cherries after each meal.

Source: natural news

Exercise During Pregnancy Benefits Mom—And Baby, Too

 

Exercise During Pregnancy Benefits Mom—And Baby, Too
When Linda May went in to see her obstetrician during her first pregnancy, he told her she probably shouldn’t jump, run, or even walk. But May, an exercise physiologist who studies pregnant women and their babies, knew a thing or two about the positive ways that being active can help a mom-to-be’s health. Women who exercise with baby on board have been known to have, among other things, lower risks of gestational diabetes and pregnancy-induced high blood pressure than those who don’t.

Since then, May and other researchers have discovered even more ways that prenatal exercise benefits not only an expectant mother, but her growing baby, too—sometimes for years into the future—as attendees learned at last week’s Experimental Biology 2014 meeting in San Diego.

Past Thinking

Decades ago, many more doctors gave similar advice to May’s obstetrician. Pregnancy was thought to be almost like an illness, a time when women needed to rest to protect themselves and their babies. In 1985, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists came out with their first set of guidelines for exercise during pregnancy—guidelines, now considered conservative, that included suggestions like keeping strenuous activities to 15 minutes or less.

Since then, research has turned that idea on its head. Exercise is now thought to be—for most women with healthy pregnancies—a boon for the mother’s health, and for the baby she carries as well.  Researchers are now starting to look even more closely at how exercise can influence a baby’s health in the womb and how these effects might translate into protection from future health problems.

Heart Health

It’s been known that those who exercise—including pregnant women—tend to have lower resting heart rates than those who don’t. Lower heart rates can be a sign of an efficient heart; high heart rates have been linked to greater risk of cardiovascular disease. May, now at East Carolina University in North Carolina, has long been interested whether benefits like this extended to baby.  In a 2010 study, she and her colleagues collected a group of 26 pregnant women who reported that they’d been exercising three times a week for more than 30 minutes per session.  When researchers brought the moms into the lab at 36 weeks, they found that the babies in their bellies, too, had lower heart rates than those carried by the moms they studied who weren’t regular exercisers.

In another study, presented at last week’s conference, May recruited 60 women at 13 weeks of pregnancy and brought them into the gym three times a week for either aerobic or mixed aerobic and weight training exercise. A control group of women came in to stretch and chat with researchers, keeping their heart rates low.

At 34 weeks—about six weeks before the babies’ due dates—the researchers checked in with the hearts within the wombs. Whether their moms were pumping iron or spinning, the babies in the bellies of exercising moms played along—their heart rates were lower and more variable, another sign of heart health, and pumped more blood with each beat than the tiny hearts inside moms in the control group.

The results indicate that exercise during pregnancy, far from harming the fetus, can be incredibly beneficial for both mom and baby. And timing matters: exercise during pregnancy, as opposed to pre-pregnancy fitness, seems to be doing something extra-special, May says. In this most recent study, about half of the group hadn’t exercised previously, and still saw similar effects on their babies’ hearts. In some of May’s past work, she collected data on moms’ pre-pregnancy body mass index and their resting heart rates, ages, and how much weight they gained in pregnancy. But these things didn’t explain the link between the fetus’s heart health and the exercise done in pregnancy.

Benefits at Birth, and Beyond

Such benefits to the heart may last into a child’s early life. Earlier this year, May and colleagues found that month-old infants still had higher heart rate variability if they had exercised along with their moms in utero. Another set of results from May’s group, not yet published, suggests that kids up to six years old still carry some of these early workouts with them: youngsters whose moms exercised while pregnant have higher “ejection fractions,” which indicates their hearts are pumping blood more efficiently.

As for what types of exercise bring the most benefit, May has found that aerobic exercise is great for the mom—lowering her heart rate and helping her gain less fat—but a mix of aerobics and strength training may be even better for the baby, although it’s not yet clear why, she says.

Growing hearts might be one of many things helped by an active mom. In his lab at the University of Kentucky, Kevin Pearson is looking at the connection between exercise and skin cancer in mice. He’s seen that mice that run during pregnancy have offspring that develop fewer skin tumors, later in life—a small but significant protective effect that he calls “an exciting first step.” Wei Zheng, a graduate student at Indiana’s Purdue University, and her colleagues found that baby rats had a 58 percent lower incidence of breast tumors if their mothers exercised.

Helping Moms Get Moving

Even with greater options at hand—from “Fit Pregnancy” magazine to prenatal yoga DVDs—many pregnant women aren’t exercising, in some cases because of lingering fear about harming their growing babies. Studies report that only about 10 to 30 percent of pregnant women are following recommended exercise guidelines—for healthy women, at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most, if not all, days, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (Of course, some women can’t safely exercise during part or all of their pregnancy, and active women should watch out for warning signs while exercising, such as bleeding or contractions.)

“It’s really important to start putting focus on how we can convey this message to pregnant women, get them to talk to their healthcare providers about exercise during their pregnancy, and get exercising,” says Amy McKenzie, a graduate student at the University of Connecticut who presented a study about pregnant women’s exercise habits at the conference.

Still, moms who aren’t able to exercise shouldn’t add, on top of other worries, the concern that their babies’ hearts won’t be healthy. May says that, instead, moms-to-be who can and do exercise—even a little bit—may be offering an added shield for their babies against later-in-life problems, which could be particularly important for those with a family history of heart disease.

Her next step is to analyze how an exercising mom might help shape her baby’s body composition. She’s following up on other studies that suggest babies born to exercising moms have lower body fat—benefits that can last into childhood.  If that’s the case, exercise during pregnancy could be able to shape two major health problems, even before a baby is born. “Heart disease and childhood obesity,” she says. “If we can affect those two things, the public health benefit is huge.”

Source: discover magazine

Alcohol kills millions a year, WHO says

alcohol

The World Health Organization is calling on governments around the world to take tougher action, in a new report that says alcohol is killing or contributing to the deaths of 3.3 million people a year.

“More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption,” Dr. Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health said in a statement Monday, to coincide with the release of a new report.

In its “Global status report on alcohol and health 2014”, the WHO notes that alcohol can not only lead to violence and injuries, it also increases the risk of more than 200 diseases, including liver cirrhosis and several types of cancers.

The report found that 7.6 per cent of men’s deaths around the world are related to alcohol, as are 4 per cent of women’s deaths. The authors say they are also concerned about the steady increase in alcohol among women.

Alcohol causes death and disability relatively early in life, the report says. Approximately 25 per cent of deaths among those aged age group 20 to 39 can be attributed to alcohol.

The report found that on average, every person in the world over the age of 15 drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol per year. But since less than half the world’s population drinks at all — 38.3 per cent — those who do drink consume 17 litres of pure alcohol a year, on average.

“We found that worldwide about 16 per cent of drinkers engage in heavy episodic drinking – often referred to as ‘binge-drinking’ — which is the most harmful to health,” explains Dr Shekhar Saxena, director for Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO.

Globally, Europe has the highest consumption of alcohol per capita. South-East Asia and the Western Pacific are seeing increases in consumption, while in the Americas and Africa, consumption trends are stable.

The report notes that some of the 194 countries it reviewed already have several measures in place to try to protect people from the risks of alcohol. But many don’t have national awareness activities to remind citizens of the risks of drinking. And many more don’t have national policies aimed at reducing the harmful use of alcohol.

The report says all governments have a responsibility to implement and enforce public policies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, including:    regulating the sale of alcohol, in particular to younger people enacting drink-driving policies

  •     reducing demand through taxation and pricing
  •     raising awareness of public health problems caused by harmful use of alcohol
  •     providing affordable treatment for people with alcohol-use disorders

Source: ctv news