Eradicating mitochondria from cells may reverse aging

For the first time, scientists have shown that mitochondria – the “powerhouses” of cells – are crucial for aging, after finding that removing mitochondria from human cells reduced levels of markers for cellular aging, triggering a process of rejuvenation.

Study leader Dr. João Passos, of the Institute for Aging at Newcastle University in the UK, and his team say their findings pave the way for new strategies to reverse the aging process.

They publish their findings in The Embo Journal.

The aging process is believed to be triggered by various forms of damage that our cells are subject to as we get older.

Cellular senescence has been associated with such damage, where certain cells have lost the ability to replicate. As a result, they build up over time, causing damage to surrounding healthy tissues by producing increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) – a process known as oxidative stress.

For their study, Dr. Passos and colleagues set out to gain a better understanding of the role mitochondria play in cellular senescence and the aging process.

Mitochondria generate chemical energy in cells, enabling them to do their job. Previous studies have also linked mitochondria to production of ROS, though the research team notes that other studies have linked ROS production to non-mitochondrial sources, producing conflicting results.

Removing mitochondria reduced markers of cellular aging.
The team decided to conduct a series of genetic experiments, in which they grew human cells in a lab and removed almost all mitochondria to monitor the effects.

The researchers explain that cells usually use a process called mitophagy in order to eradicate faulty mitochondria. In this study, Dr. Passos and colleagues “tricked” cells into performing mitophagy at a much greater level, allowing them to eliminate the vast majority of mitochondria in aging cells.

The team found that when the mitochondria were removed from the aging cells, this triggered a rejuvenation process; markers of cellular aging – including ROS, inflammatory molecules and certain gene expressions – fell to levels that were comparable to those normally seen in younger cells.

Additionally, the researchers found that as cells age, mitochondrial biogenesis – the process by which new mitochondria are formed within a cell – is a key driver of cellular aging.

Dr. Passos says their results are “very surprising and exciting,” noting that while scientists already knew that mitochondria played a role in the aging process, they have struggled to determine to what extent they contributed.

Source: medical news day

Meditation shown to reduce pain during breast cancer biopsy

Meditation is a practice of the mind and body that has long been used to generate calmness and physical relaxation. Now, a new study suggests that women who are having breast cancer biopsies should use meditation, as it reduces anxiety, fatigue and pain.

The researchers, from the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, NC, publish their findings in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Undergoing a breast biopsy is not pleasant, to say the least. It involves removing breast tissue to examine it for signs of breast cancers, and women undergoing this procedure often experience pain during and afterward.

“Patients who experience pain and anxiety may move during the procedure, which can reduce the effectiveness of biopsy, or they may not adhere to follow-up screening and testing,” says Dr. Mary Scott Soo, lead author from Duke.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), previous studies have shown that meditation can reduce blood pressure and even reduce symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Medical News Today recently reported on a study that suggested mindfulness meditation can bring greater pain relief than a placebo.

And other research suggests meditation may physically change the brain and body, improving many health problems and promoting healthy lifestyles.

Meditation ‘a good alternative to drugs in these settings’
To conduct their study, Dr. Soo and colleagues randomized 121 women who needed breast biopsies into three groups: guided meditation, music and a standard-care control group.

During the biopsy, the women in the meditation group listened to an “audio-recorded, guided, loving-kindness meditation,” which focused on acquiring positive emotions and releasing negative ones.

Meanwhile, the women in the music group listened to relaxing music, which was a choice of instrumental jazz, classical piano, harp and flute, nature sounds or world music. The control group received supportive words from the biopsy team.

Both before and after the biopsy, the patients filled out questionnaires that measured their nervousness and anxiety, ranked their biopsy pain from zero to 10 and gauged their feelings of weakness and fatigue.

Results showed that the women in the meditation and music groups reported much greater post-biopsy reductions in anxiety and fatigue, compared with the control group, which reported increased fatigue.

Furthermore, the women in the meditation group experienced significantly lower pain during the biopsy, compared with the women in the music group.

“Image-guided needle biopsies for diagnosing breast cancer are very efficient and successful,” says Dr. Soo. “but the anxiety and potential pain can have a negative impact on patient care.”

Source: medical news today

World Cancer Day, take a step towards healthier life

4th February, the world is celebrating and honouring cancer survivors.

On this occasion, Dr.Vaneet Gupta, Consultant and Oncologist from PSRI Hospital is giving out certain details about the disease and is briefing how one should take care of their health.

Explaining what this disease is, Dr. Vaneet said, “Cancer is a disease that occurs when the cells of the body multiply in an uncontrolled manner. It is not a single disease with a single type of treatment. There are more than 200 different kinds of cancer, each with its own name and treatment.”

Claiming that early diagnosis can often make a difference in how easily cancer is managed or treated and the chance of making a good recovery, he also said that people should keep a check on what kind of food they eat as little measures of precautions can save a life.

“The quality of cancer care has increased enormously in recent years increasing the numbers of people are surviving cancer and leading a normal life,” says Dr. Vaneet.

Dr. Vaneet believes that by noticing symptoms like change in the size, shape or color of a mole, a sore that does not heal after several weeks, mouth/tongue ulcer lasting more than 3 weeks and cough/croaky voice lasting more than 3 weeks, one can easily keep a check on his health.

He added, “Be aware of the early warning signs for cancer and encourage and help people to speak to their family physician along with encouraging them in taking part in cancer screening Programmes.”

So this World Cancer Day say yes to a healthy life and no to this deadly disease

Source: deccanchhronicle

Beware! Antioxidants can cause cancer to spread faster

A new study suggests that people with cancer or an elevated risk of developing the disease should avoid nutritional supplements that contain antioxidants.

Antioxidants double the rate of metastasis, the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another, in malignant melanoma, the most perilous type of skin cancer, warns a new study.

Found in many nutritional supplements, antioxidants are widely marketed as a means of preventing cancer.

The results of this study suggest that people with cancer or an elevated risk of developing the disease should avoid nutritional supplements that contain antioxidants.

“We have demonstrated that antioxidants promote the progression of cancer,” said one of the researchers Martin Bergo from Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Antioxidants protect healthy cells from free radicals that can turn them into malignancies but may also protect a tumour once it has developed, the findings showed.

Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy demonstrated in January 2014 that antioxidants hastened and aggravated the progression of lung cancer.

Mice that were given antioxidants developed additional and more aggressive tumours.

Experiments on human lung cancer cells confirmed the results. Given well-established evidence that free radicals can cause cancer, the research community had simply assumed that antioxidants, which destroy them, provide protection against the disease.

But because the lung cancer studies called the collective wisdom into question, they attracted a great deal of attention.

The follow-up studies at Sahlgrenska Academy have now found that antioxidants double the rate of metastasis in malignant melanoma in mice. “The antioxidant boosted the ability of the tumour cells to metastasise, an even more serious problem because metastasis is the cause of death in the case of melanoma. The primary tumour is not dangerous per se and is usually removed,” Bergo noted.

Experiments on cell cultures from patients with malignant melanoma confirmed the new results.

Source: India today

6 cholesterol-lowering foods you didn’t know about

Certain foods have been shown to decrease heart disease risk by lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and raising HDL (good) cholesterol. And while you probably know about the cholesterol-busting powers of fish, oatmeal, red wine, beans, and olive oil, if you’re looking for something new to keep you ticker healthy, here are six foods that might surprise you.

Indian Gooseberry
Indian gooseberry, also known as amla, is a round, green fruit that is sour, bitter, and quite fibrous. A tree that grows in India, the Middle East, and some southeast Asian countries, Indian gooseberry has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years.

Barley
Many doctors and commercials have lauded the benefits of oatmeal to help lower blood cholesterol levels, but rarely do we hear about another heart-healthy grain called barley. Like oatmeal, barley is high in soluble fiber, the type of fiber that helps to reduce the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood. Barley is also extremely versatile so you’re not just limited to eating it at breakfast time.

Avocado
One high-fat food you might want to include on your cholesterol-lowering menu is avocado. To see if there’s something special about avocados for your heart, researchers at Penn State University put participants on different diets where they controlled their fat intake—and one of those groups was given one avocado a day.

Strawberries
Possibly one of the sweetest things you can eat to improve your diet: strawberries. A study published in Journal Nutrition using freeze-dried strawberries stirred into a drink found that women who had the drink (equal to about three and a half cups of fresh strawberries) three times a week showed a significant reduction in cholesterol levels by week four of the study. While berry season is in the summer, frozen berries are picked at their peek of freshness and are an affordable substitute that can be enjoyed all year long.

Probiotics
Live microorganisms (naturally occurring bacteria in the gut) are called probiotics and these “good” bacteria are thought to have beneficial effects on gut health, and more recently cholesterol levels. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who consumed a yogurt with probiotic properties showed a greater reduction in blood cholesterol levels than those who consumed a regular low fat yogurt over a 12-week period.

Grapes
You’ve probably heard red wine is good for the heart, well how about grapes? The heart-healthy polyphenol found in red wine, resveratrol, is also found in grapes of all colors. In addition, fresh grapes provide other heart-protective nutrients including vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, and flavonoids.

Source: foxnews

Miniature microscope will ID cancer cells in real-time

A surgeon operating on a brain tumor does not want to remove any more tissue than is completely necessary. The consequences of removing too much brain matter can be severe.

By the same token, the surgeon is eager to remove the entirety of the cancerous growth; the consequences of leaving a cancerous residue are equally severe.

As things stand, this balancing act can only be managed using the surgeon’s senses. He must palpate the area and inspect it visually for remaining cells.

To fully and definitively ascertain whether a cell is cancerous, a sample must be sent to a pathology lab. There, the sample will be frozen, sliced, stained and mounted. Only then will it be inspected by a microscopist before the results are sent back.

The whole process can take days. A surgeon cannot leave a patient’s skull open to the air for that amount of time, however.

The birth of the mini-microscope

A groundbreaking invention that has the potential to rid us of this waiting game is currently being perfected by the University of Washington. The device, not much bigger than a pen, will allow surgeons to observe their patient on a cellular level, there and then.

This incredible mini-microscope is being developed in collaboration with Stanford University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Barrow Neurological Institute. The ongoing work was recently published in Biomedical Optics Express.

It is not just in the neurosurgeon’s domain that this technological advance might come in useful. Dentists routinely come across a suspicious or unexpected lesion in a patient’s mouth. In these situations, it is important to err on the side of caution, excise the tissue and send it for analysis.

These patients are subjected to procedures that, more often than not, turn out to be unnecessary; this also puts additional pressure on pathology labs.

A miniature microscope could remove the need for many superfluous procedures; in dermatological clinics, for instance, it could be used to quickly define which moles require further investigation.

Source: medica news today

Children’s food allergies related to immunosuppression

Food allergies affect around 15 million Americans, including many children. Symptoms of allergies and intolerance can range from relatively minor, such as a harmless skin rash, to potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.

Many individuals outgrow their allergy as they reach adulthood. This is thought to be due to the immune system learning to tolerate food that it previously perceived as “foreign.”

Researchers from La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LJI) in San Diego, CA, led by Charles Surh, PhD, wanted to explain why children, who have more limited exposure to novel foods than adults, are more prone to food allergies.

They hypothesized that consuming a normal diet would stimulate cells in the gut that prevent the immune system from rejecting food.

Food and pathogens both display macro molecular markers known as antigens. These antigens announce to the immune system that a food is “foreign.”

Mouse studies have previously looked at how the body would distinguish antigenic “friend” from “foe.”

The mice were fed with an egg protein that they had not eaten before. Researchers observed that an immunosuppresive cell, called a Treg cell, was produced in the gut. These Treg cells blocked the immune response to the new substances.

It was not known if this would happen when young mammals encountered new foods in “real life.”

Surh used “antigen-free” mouse models to represent an immunological blank slate. The mice were raised in a germ-free environment. They were also fed a diet of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, instead of foods that contain the proteins themselves.

This made the mice “immunologically naïve,” because amino acid building blocks are not big enough for the immune system to recognize them. It meant that the mice had little or no previous contact with antigenic proteins and other macromolecules.

Other mice were germ free but fed on a normal diet.

Molecular marker analysis revealed that the mice that consumed amino acids had no Tregs in the small intestine. In contrast, mice that were fed a normal protein diet had a large number of Tregs.

This suggests that when proteins are contained in food, they stimulate Treg development. It also indicates that Tregs in the gut of normal mice might serve to prevent a potentially disastrous immune response to those proteins.

The researchers also demonstrated that food and beneficial bacteria in the gut generate different types of Tregs.

Germ-free mice appear to have only food-dependent Tregs and lack the kind of Tregs that are induced by healthy microbes. These mice are also known to be very susceptible to allergies.

The scientists deduced that to prevent allergic symptoms, the gut needs both food- and microbe-induced Tregs.

Source: medicalnews today

Zika virus spreads explosively, four million cases forecast: WHO

The Zika virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is “spreading explosively” and could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Director-General Margaret Chan told members of the U.N. health agency`s executive board the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions. The WHO would convene an emergency meeting on Monday to help determine its response, she said.

“The level of alarm is extremely high,” Chan told the Geneva gathering.

“Last year, the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now spreading explosively. As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the region,” Chan said, promising quick action from the WHO.

The agency was criticised last year for reacting too slowly to West Africa`s Ebola epidemic, which killed more than 10,000 people, and it promised to cut its response time.

“We are not going to wait for the science to tell us there is a link (with birth defects). We need to take actions now,” Chan said, referring to the condition called microcephaly in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains that have not developed properly.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is like dengue and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms. Much of the effort against the illness focuses on protecting people from mosquitoes and reducing mosquito populations.

Developing a safe and effective vaccine could take a year, WHO Assistant Director Bruce Aylward said, and it would take six to nine months just to confirm whether Zika is the actual cause of the birth defects, or if the two are just associated.

“In the area of vaccines, I do know that there has been some work done by some groups looking at the feasibility of a Zika virus vaccine. Now something like that, as people know, is going to be a 12-month-plus time frame,” he said.

U.S. health officials said the United States has two potential candidates for a Zika vaccine and may begin human clinical trials by the end of this year, but there will not be a widely available vaccine for several years.

Marcos Espinal, head of communicable diseases at the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO`s Americas arm, forecast 3 to 4 million Zika cases in the Americas.

As the virus spreads from Brazil, other countries in the Americas are likely to see cases of babies with Zika-linked birth defects, according to Carissa Etienne, regional director for the Pan American Health Organization.

Brazil has reported around 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, vastly more than in an average year and equivalent to 1 to 2 percent of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.

The WHO`s Chan said that while a direct causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth malformations has not yet been established, it is strongly suspected.

“The possible links, only recently suspected, have rapidly changed the risk profile of Zika from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions,” she said.
Health and law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University in Washington, who had urged the WHO to act, welcomed Chan`s decision to convene an expert meeting, calling it “a critical first step in recognising the seriousness of an emerging epidemic.”

Source: Zee news

Texting at night affects teens’ sleep, academic performance

Can’t stop texting? If you’re a teenager, it may be to blame for falling grades and increased yawning in school, according to a new Rutgers study.

The study, published in the Journal of Child Neurology, is the first of its kind to link nighttime instant messaging habits of American teenagers to sleep health and school performance.

“We need to be aware that teenagers are using electronic devices excessively and have a unique physiology,” says study author Xue Ming, professor of neuroscience and neurology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. “They tend to go to sleep late and get up late. When we go against that natural rhythm, students become less efficient.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that media use among children of all ages is increasing exponentially; studies have found that children ages 8 to 18 use electronic devices approximately seven-and-a-half hours daily.

Ming’s research is part of a small but growing body of evidence on the negative effects of electronics on sleep and school performance. But few studies, Ming says, have focused specifically on instant messaging.

“During the last few years I have noticed an increased use of smartphones by my patients with sleep problems,” Ming says. “I wanted to isolate how messaging alone – especially after the lights are out – contributes to sleep-related problems and academic performance.”

To conduct her study, Ming distributed surveys to three New Jersey high schools – a suburban and an urban public school and a private school – and evaluated the 1,537 responses contrasting grades, sexes, messaging duration and whether the texting occurred before or after lights out.

She found that students who turned off their devices or who messaged for less than 30 minutes after lights out performed significantly better in school than those who messaged for more than 30 minutes after lights out.

Students who texted longer in the dark also slept fewer hours and were sleepier during the day than those who stopped messaging when they went to bed. Texting before lights out did not affect academic performance, the study found.

Although females reported more messaging overall and more daytime sleepiness, they had better academic performance than males. “I attribute this to the fact that the girls texted primarily before turning off the light,” Ming says.

The effects of “blue light” emitted from smartphones and tablets are intensified when viewed in a dark room, Ming says. This short wavelength light can have a strong impact on daytime sleepiness symptoms since it can delay melatonin release, making it more difficult to fall asleep – even when seen through closed eyelids.

“When we turn the lights off, it should be to make a gradual transition from wakefulness to sleep,” Ming says. “If a person keeps getting text messages with alerts and light emission, that also can disrupt his circadian rhythm. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the period during sleep most important to learning, memory consolidation and social adjustment in adolescents. When falling asleep is delayed but rising time is not, REM sleep will be cut short, which can affect learning and memory.”

Ming notes some benefits to early-evening media use, such as facilitating collaboration for school projects, providing resources for tutoring, increasing school readiness and possibly offering emotional support systems.

She suggests that educators recognize the sleep needs of teenagers and incorporate sleep education in their curriculum. “Sleep is not a luxury; it’s a biological necessity. Adolescents are not receiving the optimal amount of sleep; they should be getting 8-and-a-half hours a night,” says Ming. “Sleep deprivation is a strong argument in favor of later start times for high schools – like 9 a.m.”

Source: Sciencedaily

Heart attack causes and symptoms are different in women

The causes of heart attacks and the warning symptoms that can signal the need for immediate medical attention are different in women than in men, according to a scientific statement issued today by the American Heart Association.

When women don’t recognize this, they may suffer worse outcomes, a fate that is even more likely in black and Hispanic women, according to the AHA.

The organization published its first comprehensive statement on gender differences in heart attack patients in its journal Circulation.

“Women seem to do worse for several reasons,” said Dr. Laxmi Mehta, the lead author of the recommendations and the director of women’s cardiovascular health at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Importantly, people don’t realize that while both sexes may experience chest pain before or during a heart attack, women may be more likely to have unusual symptoms instead, such as shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and back or neck pain.

Then, when they do get to a hospital, women may be less likely than men to receive medications that help to prevent clots, decrease the heart’s workload and lower blood pressure or cholesterol.

“There is a lot at stake for women when there is a delay in treatment or lack of adherence to recommended therapies,” Mehta added by email. “Women face higher rates of being readmitted to the hospital, heart failure and death.”

Biology is also part of the problem.

Even though both women and men get heart attacks caused by blockages in the main arteries leading to the heart, the way the clots develop may differ, according to the scientific statement.

Men tend to have a more “classic” type of blockage where plaque ruptures off the artery wall, forms a blood clot and causes a complete halt of blood flow through the artery to the heart, said Dr. Sheila Sahni, chief fellow in cardiovascular disease at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles.

“Women, more often, tend to have a plaque erosion where smaller pieces of plaque break off, become exposed and cause the formation of smaller blood clots which may or may not cause total occlusions all at once, leading to a more subtle presentation,” Sahni, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

In addition, women tend to be about a decade older than men when they suffer heart attacks, potentially making them frailer and more likely to suffer from other health problems such as diabetes that can make their treatment more complicated, Sahni added.

Risk factors also differ by gender, with high blood pressure more strongly associated with heart attacks in women than in men. For young women with diabetes, the risk for heart disease is four to five times higher than it would be for a similar young man.

Race, too, is an issue. Compared to white women, black women have a higher incidence of heart attacks in all age categories and young black women have greater odds of dying before they leave the hospital. Black and Hispanic women are also more likely to have heart-related risk factors such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure at the time of their heart attack.

Once a heart attack begins, the best way for women to minimize damage is to get help quickly, said Dr. Leslie Cho, director of the women’s cardiovascular center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

“Time is muscle,” Cho, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “If women are diagnosed and treated later in the course of the heart attack, they can suffer from irreversible heart damage.”

Source: foxnews