Men, please note: 'Smoking, drinking can affect your progeny'

London (PTI): Science has long been clear that smoking or heavy alcohol consumption causes cancer. But, a new study has found that babies could inherit genetic damage from a father who puffs or drinks too much.

A team of international researchers has found that smoking or drinking alcohol can cause chemical changes in the semen in men and the alterations could be potentially inherited by their progenies and their future generations.

The researchers came to the conclusion after they analysed the effects of smoking and heavy drinking -- both toxic in nature -- on a group of rodents. They gave pregnant female mice daily injections of pesticide vinclozolin during the period when the sex of embryos is determined.

Male offspring had abnormalities, including prostate and sperm development problems, and genetic changes that the researchers found were passed on through four generations when the males were mated with healthy females. The researchers have also identified specific genes involved in the production of sperm that were permanently altered by the exposure to the pesticide.

"In addition to the spermatogenic and prostate abnormalities, trans-generational effects on numerous disease states were observed including tumour development and kidney disease," 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted Dr Matthew Anway of the University of Idaho as saying.

Cranberries are wonder drugs for women

Two glasses of cranberry juice a day can effectively cure bladder infections, ulcers, cavities and viruses in women, says a researcher.

Prof. Itzhak Ofek, a researcher at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, has revealed that the red beverage has some additional medicinal qualities that can heal urinary tract infections, prevent cavities and lessens the reoccurrence of gastric ulcers in women.

He said that the remarkable healing property stems from a heavy molecule known as non-dialysable material or NDM. It seems to coat some bodily surfaces with Teflon-like efficiency, preventing the infection-causing agents.

"Surprisingly, NDM appears to have no effect on some of the good bacteria in our bodies," said Prof. Ofek.

"We understood that there was something in cranberry juice that doesn't let infections adhere to a woman's bladder. We figured it was a specific inhibitor and proved this to be the case," he added.

Ofek worked with Prof. Ervin Weiss and Prof. Zichria Rones at Hadassah Medical and Dental School to find out how did it prevented cavities. He found that NDM inhibits the flu virus from attaching to cells and prevented experimental flu infections in animal models.

In another study with Dr. Haim Shmuely, a resident physician at the Beilinson Hospital and lecturer at Tel Aviv University, Ofek found that cranberry also reduced two-thirds of the 'unhealthy' bacteria that gripped on to the to gastric cells, leading to ulcers.

"The results were very interesting. Cranberry helped reduce the load of this bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, in the gut. In combination with antibiotics, it reduced repeat ulcers from approximately 15 per cent to about 5 per cent," said Ofek.

However, he said that the study holds true for women only.

"The whole thing with cranberries seems to be female-oriented," he said

According to the researcher further studies investigating berry's healing powers have also found that cranberry NDM can also act as an anti-cancer agent.

People on ARVs take more sexual risks - study

People who have HIV and Aids and who are on anti-retroviral treatment (ART) tend to take greater sexual risks than those who are positive but who are not on treatment.

That's according to a recent study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) into perceptions and behavioural risk relating to people who are HIV-positive.

The study's findings indicate that HIV-positive people on treatment tend to practise safe sex less frequently compared to those who are not on treatment.

They appear not to view the disease as a threat.

The study was conducted by Vuyiswa Mathambo, a research manager in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme.

The research was conducted by sampling a group of 104 HIV-positive men and women who had been receiving ART for more than six months and 111 HIV-positive men and women who were not receiving ART at the time of the study.

Most of those surveyed were women aged 26 to 30, unmarried, with a secondary level qualification and unemployed.

People in both groups were asked about their perceptions of the impact of HIV and Aids on the frequency with which they practised safe sex.

The report is published in the HSRC Review.

In terms of the statistics, more people who were in the treatment group viewed Aids as a disease that was no longer life-threatening and reported practising safe sex less often since starting treatment.

Of those interviewed, 84 percent of those in the treatment group said Aids was no longer a threat compared to 76 percent in the non-treatment group.

Sixty-three percent of those in the treatment group practised safe sex compared to 51 percent of those in the non-treatment group.

Mathambo writes that the study's findings showed a need to communicate appropriate HIV-prevention messages to those on treatment as it was still important to practise safe sex.

"ART is known to reduce viral loads, Aids-related illnesses and death and to improve the quality of life of those taking this treatment but concerns have been raised about the perceptions of risk as well as the behaviour of those receiving ART...

"While acknowledging the difficulty of linking risk perception and sexual practices, it was notable that some respondents had sought treatment for STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in both groups in the past two to three months," she says.

Mathambo adds that the study site was located within a hospital founded on a Catholic ethos, meaning that condoms may not have been as readily available.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive study by the Institute of Security Studies says that the politicisation of HIV and Aids has impacted on corruption and accountability.

The study, A Lethal Cocktail by Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, explores the impact of corruption on HIV and Aids prevention and treatment efforts in South Africa.

"It (politicisation) appears to relate indirectly to instances of abuse and corruption on the part of public officials and other individuals by affording a degree of protection."

Farm women are at a greater risk of asthma

Washington, December 29 : Farm women, who are exposed to some commonly used pesticides in farm work are at a greater risk of developing allergic asthma, according to a new study.

Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences said that though a large number of farm women are in contact with pesticides, there's very little information about the potential risks.

"Farm women are an understudied occupational group. More than half the women in our study applied pesticides, but there is very little known about the risks," said Jane Hoppin, Sc.D., lead author of the study.

For the study, the researchers assessed pesticide and other occupational exposures as risk factors for adult-onset asthma in more than 25,000 farmwomen in North Carolina and Iowa. They used self-reports of doctor-diagnosed adult asthma, and divided the women into groups of allergic (atopic) or non-allergic (non-atopic) asthma based on a history of eczema and/or hay fever.

Results showed an average increase of 50 percent in the prevalence of allergic asthma in all farm women who applied or mixed pesticides.

Surprisingly, even though the association with pesticides was higher among women who grew up on farms, these women still had a lower overall risk of having allergic asthma compared to those who did not grow up on farms, due to a protective effect that remains poorly understood.

"Growing up on a farm is such a huge protective effect it's pretty hard to overwhelm it. But about 40 percent of women who work on farms don't report spending their childhoods there. It is likely that the association with pesticides is masked in the general population due to a higher baseline rate of asthma," Dr. Hoppin said.

She also found that most pesticides were associated only with allergic asthma, even though non-allergic asthma is generally more common in adults.

"Asthma is a very heterogeneous disease. This finding suggests that some of the agricultural risk factors for allergic and non-allergic asthma may differ," she said.

The study also showed that some legal but rarely used compounds, such as parathion, were associated with almost a three-fold increase in allergic asthma. But even some commonly used pesticides were associated with a marked increase in allergic asthma prevalence.

Of all the compounds examined, only permethrin, a commonly used insecticide that is used in consumer items such as insect-resistant clothing to anti-malaria bed-nets, was associated with both allergic and non-allergic asthma.

Researchers say that this is the first study to examine pesticides and asthma in farm women, and it points the way for future research to clarify the relationship.

"At the end of the day, you have to remember that we're looking at cross-sectional data, thus we cannot establish a temporal association between pesticide use and asthma," said Dr. Hoppin.

"There is a difference in asthma prevalence between women who did and did not use pesticides but whether it is causal or not remains to be seen," she added.

The study was published in the first issue for January of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.

Miracle cure for liver fibrosis on the anvil

Washington, December 27 : A study on mice has shown that fibrosis in the liver can not only be stopped but also reverse some of the cell damage that has already occurred, paving way for the development of a modified protein leading to the first cure for such liver diseases.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, say that their findings may help treat and cure conditions leading to excessive tissue scarring such as viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, scleroderma and burns.

Earlier, the UC San Diego School of Medicine research team had discovered the cause of the excess fibrous tissue growth causing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and also developed a procedure blocking excess scar tissue in mice.

They wanted to develop in future, a therapy that would prevent or stop damage in patients suffering from the excessive scarring related to liver or lung disease or severe burns.

In the current study, Martina Buck, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at UCSD and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and Mario Chojkier, M.D., UCSD professor of medicine and liver specialist at the VA, demonstrated that if they blocked a protein linked to overproduction of scar tissue, not only can they stop the progression of fibrosis in mice, but also reverse the earlier damage.

Liver injury like cirrhosis, caused by alcohol, initiates response from hepatic stellate cell (HSC) that gets activated by oxidative stress resulting in large amounts of collagen. Collagen is necessary to heal wounds, but too much collagen leads to scars in tissues.

It was shown in the study that HSC gets activated due to the activation of a protein called RSK, that is critical for the development of liver fibrosis.

The scientists developed an RSK inhibitory peptide to block activation of RSK after establishing that the RSK pathway would be a potential therapeutic target.

They used mice with severe liver fibrosis (similar to the condition in humans with cirrhosis of the liver) induced by chronic treatment with a liver toxin known to cause liver damage.

Mice which continued on the liver toxin were given the RSK-inhibitory peptide which blocked RSK activation and in turn stopped the HSC from proliferating. The peptide also directly activated the caspase or 'executioner' protein, killing the cells producing liver cirrhosis but not the normal cells.

"All control mice had severe liver fibrosis, while all mice that received the RSK-inhibitory peptide had minimal or no liver fibrosis," said Buck.

He explained that the excessive collagen response is blocked by the RSK-inhibitory peptide, but did not have negative effects on the liver.

"The cells continue to do their normal, healing work but their excess proliferation is controlled. Remarkably, the death of HSC may also allow recovery from liver injury and reversal of liver fibrosis," he said.

A similar activation of RSK in activated HSC was discovered in humans with severe liver fibrosis but not in control livers, indicating the importance of this pathway in human liver fibrosis. Liver biopsies from patients with liver fibrosis also showed activated RSK.

The study is an extension of the work in 2001 in the journal Molecular Cell announcing that a team led by Buck had found that a small piece of an important regulatory protein called C/EBP beta was responsible for fibrous tissue growth, or excessive scar tissue following injury or illness.

"Six years ago, we showed a way to prevent or stop the excessive scarring in animal models. Our latest finding proves that we can actually reverse the damage," said Buck.

Almost 800,000 people die from liver cirrhosis each year, and there is currently no treatment for it.

Excessive tissue repair in chronic liver disease induced by viral, toxic, immunologic and metabolic disorders all result in excessive scar tissue, and could benefit from therapy developed from the UCSD researchers' findings.

Think twice before gorging on dark chocolates

New York, December 26 : If you are eating dark chocolate with a hope that it will protect your heart, think again.

According to an editorial published in renowned British medical journal Lancet, it may not offer you health benefits.

Studies in the past had suggested that dark chocolate is good for the heart. But the editorial said fat, sugar and calories in chocolate trigger illness instead.

Plain chocolate is considered naturally rich in flavanols that is believed to protect the heart and lower blood pressure.

But according to the journal, many manufacturers remove this chemical while producing chocolate because of its bitter taste.

"When chocolate manufacturers make confectionery, the natural cocoa solids can be darkened and the flavanols, which are bitter, removed, so even a dark-looking chocolate can have no flavanol," the online edition of BBC News quoted Lancet as saying.

"Consumers are also kept in the dark about the flavanol content of chocolate because manufacturers rarely label their products with this information," the editorial noted.

You can sleep your way to weight loss

Worried about overindulging this holiday season? Give yourself a special gift: sleep.

Despite the temptation to have too much of everything during this hectic season, a growing number of studies now point to the ill effects of missing even just a few hours of sleep -- from increased appetite and obesity to a greater risk of high blood pressure and diabetes.

"So many people could benefit from more sleep," says James Gangwisch, a Columbia University researcher and lead author of a new study on the health effects of missed sleep. "A lot of people don't even realize that they are sleep-deprived."

Just look at the numbers: In 1910, Americans, who didn't have television, computers and video games to distract them at night, slept an average of nine hours per night,according to a new report in the journal Sleep. Nearly a century later, adults average seven hours of sleep nightly, according to a 2003 survey by the National Sleep Foundation. About a third of adults get six hours or less per night, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a large, federally funded project.

That's short of the seven to nine hours nightly most of us need.

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The effects go far beyond feeling tired and cranky. Skipping sleep fuels appetite, particularly for the kind of comfort food that is high in calories. Small wonder, then, that sleep deprivation is emerging as a key risk factor for obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

In fact, when Gangwisch and his colleagues analyzed the NHANES records of nearly 9,000 adults, ages 32 to 86, they found that short sleepers -- that is, those who sleep five hours or less per night -- were nearly twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes as those who slept seven or more hours nightly. Results are published in the December issue of the journal Sleep.

Other research, also by Gangwisch, suggests that short sleepers are twice as likely to be obese as people who get enough sleep nightly.

With that knowledge, welcome to the seventh annual Lean Plate Club Holiday Challenge. This marks Week Five of the challenge, which is not about dieting but rather about helping you maintain your weight from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. It's never too late to join the challenge. Just keep the numbers on the bathroom scale steady from now until 2008 begins.

It's easy to make sleep a low priority during the year, and even easier at the holidays, when schedules get stretched to the limit by parties, shopping, cooking, travel and the more mundane end-of-year activities, from submitting health insurance reports to filling out expense-account claims.

Yet just an hour less sleep per night can wreak havoc, as a 2000 study by University of Chicago researchers shows. Eve Van Cauter and her colleagues deprived healthy young adults of just an hour a night of sleep. In six days, their hunger increased and blood-sugar levels soared, putting them in a pre-diabetic state that resembled that of people decades older. The effects were reversed with a return to normal sleep.

Other studies show that missing sleep cuts leptin levels, a hormone that controls satiety and signals the brain that more food is not needed. "When leptin levels are low," Van Cauter says, "it tells the brain that we need more calories, and hunger is stimulated." That's why skipping sleep "is highly likely to promote hunger and overeating," she says.

If you can't manage to fit in more sleep, at least try to be a little more physically active. Here's why: Exercise reduces the effects of sleep deprivation on insulin resistance -- a key step toward developing Type 2 diabetes. Being more active also helps improve sleep quality.

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That's why this week's Holiday Challenge activity goal is to get 30 minutes of activity daily. You can do that by taking six walks of five minutes each or three 10-minute walks. Or you can do it all at once. Whatever works for you.

This week's food goal is to swap good fats for bad. So choose foods with healthy mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated oil, such as olive, canola and safflower oils; as well as omega-3 fatty acids found in avocados, fish, healthy margarine and nuts, and stearic acid, found in dark chocolate.

At this busy time of the year, naps may also help, although the research is less clear on their benefits. If you do nap, try to get some winks at about 3 p.m., a time that Gangwisch says appears to be the optimum time for the body.

As he notes, getting enough sleep "gives more energy, makes you more creative and helps you feel better. If we put sleep higher on our priority list, we can have more energy to devote to the things that are important in our lives."

Medieval diets healthier than modern diet

Trying to follow a healthy diet, but don't know which one? Well, in that case, you should opt for a medieval diet.

It has been claimed by a general practitioner that medieval humans might have enjoyed healthier lifestyles than their descendants today because of their diet.

Dr Roger Henderson said that the low-fat, vegetable-rich diet, which was washed down by weak ale, of the medieval people was far better for the heart than today's starchy, processed foods.

Henderson added that while the people of those times consumed more food, they burnt off calories in a workout of 12 hours' labour.

However, he submits to the fact that life in those times, for even prosperous peasants was tough.

Also, after examining the available records Henderson suggested that medieval meals were perhaps much better than the much-touted Mediterranean diet enjoyed by the Romans.

The Mediterranean diet involved fish, fruit, whole grains and olive oil, as well as red wine, but because of the overindulgence of the rich it does not much up to the Medieval diet in which the poor might not always have been able to obtain food for them.

However, the average medieval peasant would have eaten nearly two loaves of bread each day, and 8oz of meat or fish.

The medieval lifestyle includes: calories: 3,500 - 4,000, early two loaves of bread, three pints of ale, upto 12 hours labour each day.

All this would have escorted by liberal quantities of vegetables, including beans, turnips and parsnips, and washed down by three pints of ale.

Significantly, there was little refined sugar in their food, while biscuits, cake and sweets dominate modern eating habits.

"If you put this together with the incredible work load, medieval man was at much less risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes than we are today," BBC quoted Henderson, as saying.

The modern lifestyle includes: calories: 2,700, fat intake exceeds recommendations, less than 20 minutes exercise each day and greater risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Henderson acknowledged that in today's time people did have one advantage over their ancestors when it comes to staying alive.

"If you got to 30 in those days you were doing well, past 40 and you were distinctly long in the tooth," he said.

Anna Denny of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "This research highlights how much lifestyles have changed over the centuries. Today, the majority of adults in the UK are overweight or obese, but energy intakes have actually been decreasing for several decades."

Online tool developed to fight HIV spread

Researchers at the University of Minnesota are using a new Web-based software program to help fight the spread of HIV.

The study, led by Joseph Konstan, a professor in computer science and engineering, and B. R. Simon Rosser, a professor in the School of Public Health, are embarking on a clinical trial to test a software program that aims to reduce risk-taking behaviour associated with the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Konstan and Rosser's research team have been working for more than five years to create computer programs that assess risks undertaken by men seeking sex with other men through online venues. The team is now testing an online intervention program designed to reduce sexual risk-taking and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

The software program asks users questions about issues such as body image, self esteem, sexual health and risk-taking behaviours.

Then, the program offers information about HIV/AIDS related stories.

"The goal of this research is to create a genuine online experience that promotes healthier sexual behaviour and encourages people to take fewer risks in sexual encounters outside of cyberspace," Konstan said.

The team's work has become a multi-phased, interdisciplinary project, called the Men's Internet Study (MINTS).

Rosser said it is crucial to use the Internet for disease prevention, because their research shows that seeking sex is the most popular use for the Internet among high-risk populations, such as men who have sex with men.

"If we don't do (HIV prevention outreach) right or in a way that's most responsive, we're going to have a new HIV epidemic. There's enormous urgency in addressing gaps in HIV prevention," he added.

In addition to hopes for HIV prevention, MINTS researchers also hope their online prevention model can be used for other public health purposes.

"The importance of the MINTS Internet study is not just addressing HIV," Rosser said, noting that the online prevention model could be adapted for things like cancer prevention, substance abuse interventions, and obesity prevention.

The researchers hope that the trials would show that the Web-based program is effective in the prevention of risk-related behaviour leading to sexually transmitted infections.

Toxic cosmetics may seep into drinking water

They may leave you feeling clean and refreshed, but it seems that all that chemicals in body wash, shampoo and soap you use may be seeping into your drinking water.

The caution has come after a report revealed that chemicals from consumer products such as shampoos, perfumes and drugs could be breaking down and recombining into a harmful cocktail in water supplies.

The report by the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) revealed that synthetic chemicals from these consumer products and other healthcare products that are washed down the drain are sneaking through the filters at water purification plants.

The list includes phthalates, a family of some 120 chemicals linked to reproductive problems in men and wildlife, and parabens, a preservative with a suspected link to breast cancer.

Jeff Hardy from the RSC said that although concentrations of such chemicals in water are probably too less to be harmful, the effects of their breakdown products are poorly understood.

"We do not know if the breakdown products affect the health of people."

He added that the cocktail effect might also make these chemicals more harmful.

Medicines offer hope for hair re-growth

First the forehead gets higher, then a spot at the back of the head clears - hair loss is for many men the worst thing they could possibly suffer as they get older.

While balding men used to place their hopes in all kinds of remedies or attempt to conceal the areas with hairpieces, effective hair growth medications have been available for years. But they can't guarantee the return of a full head of hair.

There are good reasons for the anxiety men feel when their hair starts to fall out. "Studies show that to other people, bald men appear to be an average of three to four years older than they actually are," said Ronald Henss of Saarbruecken.

They also are perceived as less stylish than men with a full head of hair. In the eyes of many beholders, a bald head means the loss of attractiveness. One small comfort: "Most people think of bald-headed men as family men and faithful husbands," said Henss.

The likelihood of hair loss increases with age. By their 80th birthday about 80 percent of men are affected, said dermatologist Natalie Garcia Bartels of a centre of excellence for hair at Berlin's Charite Hospital. Up to 100 individual hairs fall out per day from a normal head. Anything over that is considered hair loss.

"Mostly it is congenital hair loss - the so-called androgenic alopecia or male-pattern baldness, which can begin in men from age 20," said Garcia Bartels. It appears gradually as a receding hairline from the lateral sides of the forehead or hair loss as a bald patch at the top of the head that works its way gradually toward the front.

Many men are left with only a ring of hair around the lower part of their head.

Hair loss is set off by a hormone in the scalp. An enzyme causes testosterone to be transformed into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is believed to be the primary contributing factor in most cases of male pattern baldness. The hair follicle develops a deep sensitivity to DHT, which initiates a process of follicular miniaturisation. This progressively decreases the width of the hair shaft until the scalp hair resembles peach fuzz or goes away completely.

'The result is more hair than normal is lost. Why this happens to some men and not others has not yet been researched,' said endocrinologist Gerd Hofmann of Munich.

There are other types of hair loss, but they occur less frequently. When circular patches of hair fall out, for example, the cause typically is an autoimmune disease that sets in rapidly, said Garcia Bartels. Sometimes hair loss is attributed to an internal disease of the thyroid or a low level of iron in the blood.

There are remedies available to stop hair loss caused by male pattern baldness and possibly even to reactivate the still existing hair follicles. The effectiveness of the remedies has been documented in studies. These remedies have finasterid, used in high doses to treat the prostate gland, as the effective ingredient. It blocks the enzyme that converts testosterone into the hair follicle-damaging DHT.

Finasterid can be obtained through a prescription and it is in the form of a tablet taken daily.

'If the treatment is stopped, the hair loss as a rule will start again,' said Garcia Bartels. The price of the drug - about 150 euros ($220) for a three-month supply - is high. Somewhat more economical is Minoxidil, which is a lotion that must be applied to the scalp twice a day. Originally developed as a blood pressure medication, Minoxidil was found to have the side effect of hair growth.

Minoxidil's success rate is however lower: while hair loss is stopped in 80 percent of the people who use finasterid, the rate is 70 percent among people who apply Minoxidil. Additionally, 70 to 80 percent of finasterid users experience hair re-growth. This is true for 50 to 60 percent of Minoxidil users.

Apart from these medicines and the toupee, there is another way of achieving a full head of hair again - hair transplantation. This involves removing pieces of skin with hair follicles from another part of the body, typically the back of the neck, and transplanting them at the bald spots.

'Such measures come into play only if the hair loss has ended,' said Garcia Bartels. Otherwise, the remaining original hair will continue to fall out around the newly transplanted hair.

Hair transplantation is a very costly solution of baldness. The cost of refilling in a small spot with hair can run over 1,000 euros.

'The results that I have seen thus far are not especially satisfying,' said Hofmann. Apparently, it is better when a man accepts his baldness.

'The problems that men have with hair loss decline anyway as they get older,' said Henss. 'Perhaps time does not grant a full head of hair, but it does heal all wounds.'

On the Internet there are numerous advertisements offering lotions and similar remedies for hair loss. Hofmann said these are best avoided.

'Remedies that cost a lot of money and do nothing only cause aggravation and frustration,' said Hofmann. The money would be better spent on a head massage or a hair tonic containing rubbing alcohol.

'Such measures help increase blood circulation to the scalp, thus supplying it with oxygen.'

Protein behind immunity to ovarian cancer treatment identified

People suffering from ovarian cancer who have lower levels of protein called TGFBI, are less likely to respond to the treatment for cancer, says a study.

Transforming growth factor, beta-induced, 68kDa, also known as TGFBI, is a human gene.

The finding was based on a study, led by Dr James Brenton, a Cambridge University researcher, which found that patients lacking the protein tend to be immune to Paclitaxel, a drug that shrinks ovarian tumours.

Paclitaxel is part of a family of drugs called taxanes, originally derived from yew trees.

In the study, the researchers examined ovarian cancer cells and data from 20 patients.

They results found that those who did not respond to paclitaxel had lower levels of a protein called TGFBI in their pre-treatment samples.

And further analysis revealed that cancer cell death rate was higher following treatment where levels of TGFBI were high.

"TGFBI is lost in one third of primary ovarian cancers and it is possible that this protein could be used as a biomarker for selecting patients likely to respond to this class of drug," BBC quoted Brenton, as saying.

"Our findings offer hope not only for improved ovarian cancer treatment, it may also lead to improvements in the success rate of other taxane drugs used to treat lung and breast cancer," he added.

Dr Ahmed Ashour Ahmed, who also worked on the study, said: "Our work reveals that some proteins that surround cancer cells such as TGFBI send messages to microtubules, the backbone of the cell, sensitising them to paclitaxel.

"Deciphering the code by which these messages are sent will enable the discovery of new treatments that will simulate the coded messages leading to a significant improvement in paclitaxel response," he added.

Professor Herbie Newell, of Cancer Research UK, said: "We are entering a period of cancer treatment where more drugs are targeted at those people who will benefit the most.

"This personalised medicine approach potentially means treatments will be more effective with fewer side effects. This is really important for diseases like ovarian cancer that can be challenging to treat," Newell added. (ANI)

Stem-cell patch may fix damaged hearts

Scientists have made two significant advances in developing a stem-cell patch to repair the damage caused to the heart after an attack.

Sian Harding of London's Imperial College said on Thursday her team had successfully matured beating heart cells in a laboratory dish for up to seven months and developed a biocompatible scaffold to form the basis of a patch.

The idea is to stitch or glue a patch of new tissue derived from embryonic stem cells over the damaged area of the heart to make the muscle viable again.

During a heart attack, or myocardial infarct, part of the heart muscle loses its blood supply and the oxygen-starved cells die, causing scarring.

"We really would like to cover the area of the infarct scar as much as possible, so it might be quite a large patch," Harding said in an interview.

"We think the patch itself will stop the scar expanding, which is one of the big problems when you have a myocardial infarction because the scar becomes weak and can bulge out."

The biomaterial developed for the patch is designed to have the same elasticity as heart muscle and can also be programmed to degrade safely in anything from two weeks upwards.

Several groups around the world are working on different ways to use stem cells in heart repair but a key challenge is to get cells to function properly.

By showing stem cell-derived heart cells can beat in a co-ordinated fashion for months on end, the Imperial team believes their patch should function smoothly alongside normal heart muscle, without causing abnormal heart rhythms.

Harding, who will present her research at a UK Stem Cell Initiative conference, said initial human trials of the patch could be underway within five years -- after safety studies on animals and tests to see if the new cells are rejected.

Stem cells are controversial but the field received a boost last month when researchers reported they had turned ordinary human skin cells into batches of cells that looked and acted like embryonic stem cells, without using human eggs or embryos.

"That is a very promising development," Harding said. "They have made heart muscles from those cells and this technique has the potential both for getting round the ethical problems and for producing patient-specific cells."

Making stem cells from a patient's own tissue would avoid the problems of transplant rejection.

Obesity reduces chances of pregnancy

Obesity was already known to be a risk factor for anovulation - an absence of ovulation. Now, a new study has revealed that it also reduces the chance of spontaneous pregnancy in women who are subfertile but ovulating normally.

The study looked at the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and the probability of pregnancy in women with no obvious fertility problems and who had been trying, unsuccessfully, to fall pregnant for a year.

It was found that for every BMI unit above 29 kg/m2, women were four per cent less likely to conceive as compared to women with a BMI between 21-29 kg/m2. Very obese women (BMI 35-40) had a probability of pregnancy that was between 26 and 43 per cent lower than women with a BMI between 21-29.

"This reduction in fertility is comparable to the increment of one year in female age. This study tells us that not only obese women with anovulation have lower chances of conception, but also obese women with a regular cycle. Given the increased prevalence of obesity, this is a worrying finding," said Dr Jan Willem van der Steeg, a medical researcher in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and the lead author of the study.

As women in developed countries are tending to have their babies later in life, a woman aged 30 or over, who is also obese, would have an even greater reduction in her chances of becoming pregnant.

Dr van der Steeg and his colleagues investigated the effects of obesity on spontaneous pregnancy in 3,029 subfertile couples between 2002 and 2004 in 24 hospitals in The Netherlands.

The women had to be ovulating and have at least one, correctly functioning fallopian tube; the men had to have a normal semen analysis. A fertility history and other details, including height, weight and smoking habits were taken into account at the beginning of the study and the couples were followed until pregnancy or the start of fertility treatment within 12 months.

They found that obese women had a statistically significant lower probability of spontaneous pregnancy.

The researchers have suggested that a possible explanation of the relationship between BMI and pregnancy probability is the hormone leptin that regulates appetite and energy expenditure and is secreted by fatty tissues.

"It is possible that obese women may have disturbed hormone levels, which decrease the chances of successful fertilisation and implantation. The level of leptin in the body is positively related with the amount of fat in individuals without any mutations in their leptin regulation genes. Leptin levels are increased in obese people, suggesting a relative resistance to leptin. It is unclear whether or not obesity causes a resistance to leptin or vice versa. There is evidence that leptin may influence the process of steroid production by the ovaries," Dr van der Steeg said.

Dr van der Steeg believes that obesity is a factor in the increasing numbers of couples seeking fertility treatments.

"Nowadays, one out of six couples will deal with subfertility once in their life. Adult obesity levels have increased four-fold over the last 25 years, with two-thirds of adults deemed overweight," he said.

"Therefore, we would advise women to lose weight. Although the effect on better fertility is not proven, it is shown that the chance of a serious complication during pregnancy and labour is reduced," he added.

How to avoid overeating on the job

Watch out for Snack Platters and Food Pushers

Between coworker birthday cakes, shared holiday-party leftovers, staff meetings with Danishes, and pizza-fueled late-night work sessions, it's easy to blow your diet while on the job. But it doesn't have to be.

"People are most successful in healthy eating when they can control their environment, as opposed to being in a negative environment and trying to control themselves," says nutritionist Katherine Tallmadge, author of "Diet Simple."

Take Control

Figure out which food temptations you can control.

If you're the boss, you can tell the person who orders food to bring a platter of fruit instead of cookies to the staff meeting, and ask your staff to stash junk food in drawers.

Not the boss? No problem. Consider these tips:

* Join the office snack committee. "Lobby for fresh fruits and veggies instead of baked goods," says Tallmadge.

* Plan ahead. If your office doesn't have a snack committee, or you don't want to be on it, you can still ask ahead what food will be provided for this week's late-night work session or staff meeting.

"Lots of people have to do this -- diabetics, people with food allergies, vegetarians -- so don't feel self-conscious," counsels Elisabetta Politi, a dietitian and nutrition manager at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center.

* Share the health. Be an example to coworkers and set out a bowl of fruit on your desk and invite others to enjoy it. It could start a healthy trend, according to Tallmadge.

* Talk to coworkers. You may not have authority, but you can still ask coworkers to stash their candy and junk food in their drawers instead of leaving it out. Most people won't mind, says Politi.

Resist Food Pushers

You may run into resistance from people who not only won't comply with your requests, but will also undermine your diet by actively tempting you with food you don't want.

With these food pushers, your best bet is to not engage.

"When you tell a food pusher you can't have something, that you're on a diet, you're giving a double message -- you're saying, 'I really want it, talk me into it,'" Tallmadge says. "It's always best to simply say, 'No, thank you,' and then compliment lavishly the food she brings that is healthy."

The situation could be more difficult if the food pusher is a friend, and you used to eat junk food together. Politi advises that you two focus on the things you can do together that don't involve food.

"It's not about giving up friendships," she says. "Go for a walk with her and have meals with people who make healthy choices."

Be Flexible

Finally, the biggest challenge to a dieter's will power often comes from an all-or-nothing attitude, Politi warns. So don't fall into it.

"Look at it in perspective: You have 21 meals in every week," she says. "A few slices of birthday cake a month are no big deal. Most people have at least two meals a day they can control. Focus on that."

Neo-natal mortality high in India, says UNICEF

Neonatal mortality or death within 28 days of birth is high in India, according to the latest UNICEF report.

According to the UNICEF's statistical review 'Progress for Children-A World Fit for Children,' out of the estimated 2.1 million child-mortality (death of children in their first five years of life) in India, one million are during the neonatal period (within 28 days of birth).

The neonatal deaths could be due to lack of any of the key survival interventions, such as skilled care at birth, initial breastfeeding within one hour of birth, care of low birth weight babies and keeping baby warm.

"One of the cost effective and feasible interventions to improve the situation, include initiating breastfeeding within one hour of birth," the report suggested.

However, malnutrition underlines up to half of under-five deaths globally, followed by neonatal causes in 37 per cent of cases, pneumonia (19 per cent), diarrhoea (17 per cent), malaria (8 per cent), measles (four per cent), injuries (three per cent), AIDS (three per cent) and other reasons (10 per cent).

Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness - more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Around one in every five under-five children globally die from the disease. India has the largest number of deaths due to pneumonia.

In 2006, for the first time in the world, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday fell below 10 million to 9.7 million, the report said.

India with 2.1 million under-five child deaths, contributes to about 21 percent of the global burden of child deaths.

About 25 percent of children under-five world-over are underweight. One-third of the world's underweight children in under-five age-group are in India.

The states with the highest number of children underweight are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, followed by Gujarat, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya.

India has the largest pool of 9.4 million children, who have never been immunised in the world.

A UNICEF representative said, "Immunisation in the 80s and 90s was shining in India. After that it has seen a progressive decline. While in the weaker states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan the immunisation programme improved, in the well-performing states, such as Gujarat and Maharashtra they showed a decline. So, the overall decline,"

The representative suggested the need for strengthening the immunisation system, which includes preservation of vaccine at right temperature, distribution of vaccines from the Centre to States, and education of health workers.While safe drinking water is essential for child survival, the world is on the track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on safe drinking water. With 84.5 percent rural and 95 per cent urban population having sustainable access to safe drinking water, India is also on the track to meet this goal.

The report acknowledges that progress of India, which is one of the largest countries of the world, is key to achieving the MDGs.

"With 20 per cent of the world's children under age of five years, India needs at least 20 per cent of the world's attention. And, it is getting it," said UNICEF India representative Gianni Murzi. (ANI)

Belief, disbelief and uncertainty activate different parts of brain: Study

A new study has found that belief, disbelief and uncertainty activate distinct regions of the brain.

It was also found that belief/disbelief affected areas are associated with the pleasantness/unpleasantness of tastes and odours.

The study, led by Sam Harris of the University of California, Los Angeles, involved 14 adults who underwent functional MRI scans during which they were presented with short statements that they had to evaluate as true, false or undecided.

In the study, each participant underwent three scans while they evaluated statements from a broad variety of categories such as mathematical, geographical, autobiographical, religious and factual.

The statements were designed to be clearly true, false or undecidable.

The analysis found that contrasting belief and disbelief trials yielded increased signal in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), which is involved in linking factual knowledge with emotion.

"The involvement of the VMPFC in belief processing suggests an anatomical link between the purely cognitive aspects of belief and human emotion and reward," the researchers said.

The researchers noted that ethical belief showed a similar pattern of activation to mathematical belief suggesting that the physiological difference between belief and disbelief is not related to content or emotional associations.

The authors stated that the contrasts between disbelief and belief showed increased signal in the anterior insula, a region involved in the sensation of taste, the perception of pain, and the feeling of disgust, indicating that 'false propositions might actually disgust us'.

"Our results appear to make sense of the emotional tone of disbelief, placing it on a continuum with other modes of stimulus appraisal and rejection," they said.

Uncertainty evoked a positive signal in the anterior cingulate cortext (ACC) and a decreased signal in the caudate, a region of the basal ganglia, which plays a role in motor action.

Noting that both belief and disbelief showed an increased signal in the caudate compared to uncertainty, the authors suggested that the basal ganglia might play a role in mediating the cognitive and behavioural differences between decision and indecision.

"This would have obvious implications for the detection of deception, for the control of the placebo effect during the process of drug design, and for the study of any higher-cognitive phenomenon in which the differences between belief, disbelief, and uncertainty might be a relevant variable," the researchers said.

No Increased Heart-Attack Risk

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday a review of clinical studies involving AstraZeneca PLC's reflux drugs Nexium and Prilosec don't show an increase in heart attacks and sudden death.

The agency has been conducting a safety review of the drugs, which are approved to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, since May, when AstraZeneca submitted the results of two small, long-term studies that suggested the drug could increase the risk of heart problems and sudden death. Prilosec is also approved in an over-the-counter version and is marketed by Procter & Gamble Co. to treat frequent heartburn.

The studies were designed to assess the effectiveness of treatment with Prilosec, or Nexium, or surgery for severe GERD. The FDA said cardiovascular events seen in the small studies raised a question about whether long-term use of the drugs increases the risk of heart attacks, heart failure and heart-related sudden death in patients taking either one of the prescribed drugs compared with patients who received surgical treatment.

The FDA said it then asked AstraZeneca to submit additional information about the drugs for FDA to review.

The agency said its review of the two long-term studies submitted in May along with 14 additional studies show the products are "not likely to be associated with an increased risk of heart problems."

The agency said the increase in heart-related problems seen in the two small, long-term studies "does not indicate the presence of a true effect."

The agency said it recommends "that health care providers continue to prescribe, and patients continue to use, these products as described in the labeling for the two drugs."

Prilosec and Nexium are members of a class of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs. They work to decrease the amount of acid produced in the stomach and help heal erosions in the lining of the esophagus known as erosive esophagitis. They are also indicated for use with an antibiotic to treat gastric ulcers, the FDA said.

Bath soap chemical alters hormonal activities

Washington, December 10 : A new study has revealed that a common antibacterial chemical added to bath soaps can change hormonal activity in rats and in human cells in the laboratory, and does so by a formerly unreported mechanism.

The study, by the University of California - Davis researchers, comes as a growing number of studies, of both lab animals and humans, have revealed that some synthetic chemicals in household products can lead to health problems by interfering with normal hormone action.

Called endocrine disruptors, or endocrine disrupting substances (EDS), such chemicals have been linked in animal studies to a range of problems, including cancer, reproductive failure and developmental anomalies.

The current study is the first to examine the hormone effects of the antibacterial compound triclocarban (also known as TCC or 3,4,4'-trichlorocarbanilide), which is widely used in household and personal care products including bar soaps, body washes, cleansing lotions, wipes and detergents.

After conducting tests, the researchers found two key effects.

In human cells in the laboratory, triclocarban increased gene expression that is normally regulated by testosterone. And when male rats were fed triclocarban, testosterone-dependent organs such as the prostate gland grew abnormally large.

Furthermore, the authors said their discovery that triclocarban increased hormone effects was new.

All previous studies of endocrine disruptors had found that they generally act by blocking or decreasing hormone effects.

Lead author Bill Lasley said that consumers should not take this study as guidance on whether to use triclocarban-containing products.

"Our mothers taught us to wash our hands well before the advent of antimicrobial soaps, and that practice alone prevents the spread of disease," he said.

The new study was published online this week by the journal Endocrinology. (ANI)

Contraceptives may lower bone density in young women

Washington, December 10 : A new study has found that young women who take oral contraceptives are a greater risk of developing low bone density and consequently osteoporosis.

The study by Hawley Almstedt and Christine M. Snow, professors of natural science at the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and Oregon State University, respectively, is the first to analyze bone density and oral contraceptives use among 18-25 year old women.

According to the authors, it is essential for women to develop strong bone mass during their adolescence.

Although women's peak bone development occurs at the age of 16, women's bones are still developing during their late teens and early twenties, they added.

Oral contraceptives create an obstruction in young women's bodies, affecting their ability to fully develop high bone mass, the study said, adding that women who take birth control pills between 18 and 25 will have lower bone density than those women who do not take the pill.

The research examined 98 women in two groups; those who took oral contraceptives and those who did not. The researchers measured the women's bone density at the hip, whole body and spine by Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.

The research, titled "Oral contraceptives use in young women is associated with lower bone mineral density than that of controls," was published in "Osteoporosis International." (ANI)