According to a recent publication from New England Journal of Medicine, daily coffee intake, caffeinated or decaffeinated, may help drinkers live longer. Men who drank 2 to 3 cups a day had a 10 percent increase in chance of living longer than those who don't drink coffee; women benefit by 13 percent. As part of the national survey, researchers from the National Cancer Institute looked at more than 402,000 men and women between 50 and 71 years of age without cancer, heart disease, or stroke. Men and women who drank 2 to 3 cups a day had lower risks of dying from heart disease (14% and 15%), respiratory diseases (17% and 21%), stroke (16% and 7%), and diabetes (25% and 23%) than those who drank no coffee. However, with more than 1,000 compounds found in coffee, more studies are needed on their effects on the mortality risk in people with a previous history of disease.
Obese or diabetic mothers linked to defected children
Researchers at the University of California Davis have found a linkage between glucose levels during pregnancy and foetus brain development. A total of 1,000 children and mothers were studied over seven years, 9.3% of children whose mothers had Type 2 diabetes during their pregnancies developed autism, and 11.6% of them showed developmental disability, which was nearly doubled the prevalence of those who were born by women with no metabolic conditions. Also, more than 20% of the mothers of children with autism or other developmental disability were obese, compared with 14% of the mothers of children with normal development. In terms of cognitive abilities, it was found that among the children with autism, children of diabetic mothers performed poorer than children of non-diabetic mothers in tests of expressive language and communication skills. Although there was an association between diabetes and developmental problems, more research is needed to understand more about the linkage.
Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have found that the time of the day was an important factor of concern in considering the risk of infection. They showed that one of the proteins involved in the detection process, Toll-like receptor nine (TLR9), was affected by the changes in the chemistry of the body throughout the day. The scientists showed that the amount of TLR9 produced and the way it functioned was controlled by the body clock. They have found a direct molecular link between circadian rhythms and the immune system, and it appeared that disruptions of the circadian clock influence human's susceptibility to pathogens. This finding may help in developing the prevention and treatment of disease.
According to US researchers, a telephone survey of more than 150,000 adults suggested that sleep quality improves with age, with a minor exception for those in their 40s. The study from Sleep Journal reported that those in their 80s had the best sleep. A UK researcher explained whilst poor health could indicate poor sleep, age alone was not a factor. Equipment from universities have shown to measure sleep duration and disturbances in study volunteers but the results do not always confer with the volunteer's own opinion of their night's sleep. The study acknowledged having health problems or being depressed may be linked to poor sleep quality and took it into account when data was analysed. Results show a clear distinct pattern with poor sleep quality falling as age increases and the lowest complaints came from those over age 70. Middle age was the exception to this trend, where sleep quality was poorer. One doctor suggested it was possible that older people were sleeping worse but their perception of sleep may differ. Feelings about sleep may improve with age, even if sleep in older Americans is actually worse than in younger adults.
According to a large UK review of clinical trials, bone marrow stem cell therapy offers moderate improvement to heart attack patients. 33 trials involving more than 1700 patients were analysed by the Cochrane Collaboration. Longer-term studies were required to examine the effects of the experimental therapy on life expectancy. Scar tissues which replace dead heart muscle after a heart attack renders surviving patients weaker with the possibly of a lifetime of medication. Cells taken from the heart for cultivation of new heart cells then reintroducing the new cells back into the heart may reduce scar tissue and lead to new heart muscle. A similar technique using bone marrow cells has a much longer pedigree. Moderate long-term improvement in heart function may be achieved using bone marrow therapy compared to standard treatments. However, there is no evidence of any significant effect on mortality due to the size and the short period of time the studies were conducted.
Scientists at the Case Western Reserve University have found that bexarotene, a cancer drug on mice, could rapidly clear destructive plaques in the brains of mice with the early stage of illness similar to Alzheimer's disease. The results showed that after one dose in young mice, the levels of beta-amyloid in brain, which is believed to contribute to Alzheimer's, were reduced within 6 hours and a 25% reduction was sustained for 70 hours. Moreover, the drug halved the number of plaques in the brain of older mice after 7 days of treatment. The test also showed improvements in some brain functions such as nest building, maze performance and remembering electrical shocks. These results were promising and unprecedented, but any effect was still unproven in human. Therefore, the next objective is to ascertain if the drug acts similarly in humans.
Diabetic mothers have higher risk for defected child
Researchers from the Newcastle University analyzed data from more than 400,000 pregnancies in North East England between 1996 and 2008, 1,677 of them had diabetes. The risk of birth defects increases with the sugar levels at conception, from 1 in 34 at 6.1% sugar level to 1 in 9 at 10% sugar level. Also, there is a near four-fold increase in the risk of birth defects if the pregnant mother has diabetes. Luckily, most diabetic women can give birth to a healthy baby with the help of experts before and during pregnancy. National guidelines and the lead researcher have both recommended that, before trying to conceive, women should have good control over their blood sugar levels so as to reduce the risk of birth defect.
Researchers in California have conducted a study in mice that skipped the middle "stem cell" stage to convert skin cells directly into brain cells. Stem cells have long been considered to have huge promise in some treatments because they can become any other specialist type of cell. However, ethical concerns were raised about where to get the cells from, and stem cells not matching the patients' own cells will cause unfavourable immune response. Another way is to reprogram patients' skin cells into "induced" stem cells, but the process may activate cancer-causing genes, which is again undesirable. This research is therefore working on a direct approach that converts a patient's own skin cells into specialist cells such as neurons. This study created "neural precursor" cells rather than "induced" stem cells. Large numbers of cells can be created in this way, which will be important in therapeutic use. It was shown that the cells could integrate into a mouse brain and produce a missing protein that was required by neurons. Further tests on human will be needed to assess the efficacy and safety.
A 30-year study suggests that oral contraceptives may alleviate painful periods for some women. The pain can have a detrimental effect from absenteeism from school to work and interfering with their daily routines several days per month. The condition known as dysmenorrhoea was estimated to affect more than half of the women at some point in the study. It was reported in the Journal Human Reproduction that women on the pill showed slightly less severe period pains. Hundreds of girls aged 19 were recruited for the study back in 1981, 1991 and 2001. Women enrolled on the study were contacted again after five years following the original health questionnaire to examine any changes. Period pains are not to be underestimated; as many as 50-75% young women suffer from dysmenorrhoea. There was a significant difference in the severity of dysmenorrhoea depending on whether or not the women used combined oral contraceptives. The use of oral contraceptives is not currently officially licensed for this purpose. European Medicines Agency overseeing drug licensing across the EU does not include the treatment of period pain as a licensed use for oral contraceptives. This means doctors are unlikely to prescribe this type of medication for this purpose.
Researchers from a UK-led study analyzed over 100,000 patients and suggested that healthy people who take aspirin regularly to prevent a heart attack or stroke may be doing more harm than good. Aspirin prevents formation of blood clots by preventing platelets aggregation, in turn reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke. It is also suggested to have the ability to prevent some cancers. However, the drug is also known to increase the chance of internal bleeding. Researchers found that in people taking aspirin, there was a 20% reduction in non-fatal heart attacks but there was no reduction in deaths from heart attack, stroke or cancer. On the other hand, the risk of internal bleeding was increased by 30%, which could be life threatening. The results indicated that there might be net harm instead of net benefit, as the risk of internal bleeding may outweigh the benefits. Nonetheless, please consult your doctor if you are already taking aspirin, don't simply stop taking it.
