The health benefits of switching from refined to whole grain foods are established well including lower risk of cardiovascular disease weight gain
and type 2 diabetes. Based on this evidence the U s. Department of agriculture's (USDA) 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend that Americans consume at least three servings of whole grain products daily
Abnormal proteins from buttock fat linked to metabolic syndromepeople who are shaped apple--with fat more concentrated around the abdomen--have long been considered more at risk for conditions such as heart disease
and diabetes than those who are shaped pear and carry weight more in the buttocks hips and thighs.
and omentin-1 proteins that can lead to inflammation and a prediabetic condition know as insulin resistance in individuals with early metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome refers to a group of risk factors that occur together doubling the risk for heart disease
and increasing the risk for diabetes at least fivefold. Risk factors include having a large waistline low levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) or good cholesterol high blood pressure as well as high fasting blood sugar (insulin resistance) and high triglyceride levels.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention metabolic syndrome affects 35 percent of American adults over age 20.
Fat in the abdomen has long been considered the most detrimental to health and gluteal fat was thought to protect against diabetes heart disease
and metabolic syndrome said Ishwarlal Jialal lead author of the study and a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and of internal medicine at UC Davis. But our research helps to dispel the myth that gluteal fat is'innocent.'
'It also suggests that abnormal protein levels may be an early indicator to identify those at risk for developing metabolic syndrome.
The UC Davis team found that in individuals with early metabolic syndrome gluteal fat secreted elevated levels of chemerin
and low levels of omentin-1--proteins that correlate with other factors known to increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes.
High chemerin levels for example correlated with high blood pressure elevated levels of C reactive-protein protein (a sign of inflammation) and triglycerides insulin resistance and low levels of HDL cholesterol.
Low omentin-1 levels correlated with high levels of triglycerides and blood glucose levels and low levels of HDL cholesterol.
High chemerin levels correlated with four of the five characteristics of metabolic syndrome and may be a promising biomarker for metabolic syndrome said Jialal.
As it's also an indicator of inflammation and insulin resistance it could also emerge as part of a biomarker panel to define high-risk obesity states.
The good news is that with weight loss you can reduce chemerin levels along with the risk for metabolic syndrome.
To conduct the study Jialal and colleagues recruited 45 patients with early metabolic syndrome--defined as having at least three risk factors for metabolic syndrome including central obesity hypertension mild increases in glucose levels not yet in the diabetic range(<126 mg/dl
) hyperlipidemia without cardiovascular disease or diabetes. A control group of 30 subjects had less than two risk factors for metabolic syndrome with normal glucose and triglyceride levels.
Both groups were matched for gender and age. Complete blood counts lipid profiles and blood glucose blood pressure and C reactive-protein protein levels were measured in all participants.
Levels of four proteins secreted by adipose tissue--chemerin resistin visfatin and omentin-1--were measured also in plasma and in subcutaneous fat samples from gluteal tissue.
and gluteal fat of subjects with metabolic syndrome compared to those in the control group. The abnormal levels of these two proteins were also independent of age body mass index and waist circumference.
Future large epidemiological studies should focus on evaluating the role of chemerin as a biomarker for the development of diabetes
and cardiovascular disease in metabolic syndrome Jialal said. Other authors of the study entitled Increased Chemerin and Decreased Omentin-1 in Both Adipose tissue and Plasma in Nascent Metabolic syndrome include Sridevi Devaraj of Baylor College of Medicine Harmeet
Kaur of UC Davis Beverley Adams-Huet of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical center and Andrew A. Bremer of Vanderbilt University.
The study was supported by a grant from the American Diabetes Association. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of California-Davis Health System.
It is also vital that investigators are aware of potential unexpected crossreactive allergic responses upon the consumption of plant products as we found in the non-transgenic peas.
She said she initially hoped that her arthritis pain would be reduced through the program something that hasn't happened.
As obesity rates have soared so too have related health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Consequently Ard and his colleagues fear that the next generation may have a lower life expectancy than the current generation.
when treating tumors, research findsnew research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical center shows that patients suffering from aggressive brain tumors can be treated effectively with smaller radiation fields to spare the rest of the brain and preserve cognition.
That's important because it lessens the symptoms from radiation toxicity like tiredness and nausea.
and does not seem to lead to an increase in the likelihood of the tumor recurring.
whether using these tighter margins would affect the tumors coming back outside of the radiation field
Smaller radiation margins around the tumor do not seem to lead to an increase in the tumor returning just outside of the radiation field Chan said.
#Passive smoking increases risk of severe dementia, according to study in Chinaan international study by scientists in China the UK and USA has found a link between passive smoking and syndromes of dementia.
The study of nearly 6000 people in five provinces in China reveals that people exposed to passive smoking have increased a significantly risk of severe dementia syndromes.
and respiratory diseases including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. However until now it has been uncertain whether ETS increases the risk of dementia mainly due to lack of research.
and cognitive impairment but this is the first to find a significant link with dementia syndromes.
According to the World health organization (WHO) nearly 80 percent of the more than one billion smokers worldwide live in low-and middle-income countries where the burden of tobacco-related illness
and Shanxi to characterise their levels of ETS exposure smoking habits and assess levels of dementia syndromes.
They found that 10 percent of the group had severe dementia syndromes. This was significantly related to exposure level and duration of passive smoking.
The associations with severe syndromes were found in people who had smoked never and in former and current smokers.
The data from the Anhui cohort which were collected at baseline in 2001-03 for dementia syndromes
and in the follow up in 2007-08 for ETS exposure and dementia further excluded the possibility that dementia syndromes caused people to be exposed more to environmental tobacco smoke.
'Passive smoking should be considered an important risk factor for severe dementia syndromes as this study in China shows.
Avoiding exposure to ETS may reduce the risk of severe dementia syndromes.''China along with many other countries now has a significantly aging population
'The findings from this study together with a second recent study by Chen and colleagues published in Alzheimer's
& Dementia on the links between passive smoking and Alzheimer's disease strengthen the case for public health measures to protect people from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.'
More campaigns against tobacco exposure in the general population will help decrease the risk of severe dementia syndromes
and reduce the dementia epidemic worldwide.''He added:''The increased risk of severe dementia syndromes in those exposed to passive smoking is increased similar to risk of coronary heart disease--suggesting that urgent preventive measures should be taken not just in China but many other countries.'
'Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by King's college London. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
The ability to quickly filter out contaminants on-site would save a great deal of money he said. He sees even greater potential benefits for the mining industry.
how to retrieve the genome of a specific pathogen from a mixture of DNAS in a patient and its microbial cohabitants?
Capflank opens doors to completely new possibilities e g. in the genetic analysis of pathogens. We can use short preserved gene sequences to yield the genome
(or at least large sections of it) from pathogenic variants of influenza viruses for example or from completely new pathogens explains Greenwood.
#Fermented milk made by lactococcus lactis H61 improves skin of healthy young womenthere has been much interest in the potential for using probiotic bacteria for treating skin diseases and other disorders.
Although many reports have addressed the effect of lactic acid bacteria on skin properties in subjects with skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis few studies have involved healthy humans explains lead investigator Hiromi Kimoto-Nira Phd
Season-associated effects are an important factor in skin condition says Kimoto-Nira. Skin disorders such as psoriasis and senile xerosis tend to exacerbate in winter.
Melanin provides varying degrees of brown coloration at the skin surface and melanin content is affected by internal and external factors such as age race and sunlight exposure.
#How deadly MERS virus enters human cellscornell University researchers have uncovered details of how the deadly Middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-Cov) enters host cells and offer possible new avenues
With MERS the primary infection is in the lungs and even there it infects additional cell types including immune cells
--which could be the root of infection to humans said Whittaker. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Cornell University.
At two months old the girl was diagnosed with Alpha 1-antitrypsin antitrypsin deficiency an inherited disorder that causes liver disease.
The first pancreas transplant at University Hospital used to cure diabetes. The first kidney transplant in Utah using an organ from a donor with hepatitis C. The first en bloc kidney where two pediatric kidneys were transplanted into one adult.
--and best known for claims that it can help prevent certain cancers--may ease classic behavioral symptoms in those with autism spectrum disorders (ASDS).
Unfortunately its root causes remain elusive though progress has been made Talalay says in describing some of the biochemical and molecular abnormalities that tend to accompany ASD.
He says that studies show that the cells of those with ASD often have high levels of oxidative stress the buildup of harmful unintended byproducts from the cell's use of oxygen that can cause inflammation damage DNA and lead to cancer and other
when people have fever. Intriguingly he says about one-half of parents report that their children's autistic behavior improves noticeably
when they have a fever then reverts back when the fever is gone. In 2007 Zimmerman a principal collaborator in the current study tested this anecdotal trend clinically
and found it to be true though a mechanism for the fever effect was identified not.
Because fevers like sulforaphane initiate the body's heat-shock response Zimmerman and Talalay wondered
if sulforaphane could cause the same temporary improvement in autism that fevers do. The current study was designed to find out.
Before the start of the trial the patients'caregivers and physicians filled out three standard behavioral assessments:
what happens to those who experience improvements during a fever. It seems like sulforaphane is temporarily helping cells to cope with their handicaps he says.
Zimmerman adds that before they learned which subjects got the sulforaphane or placebo the impressions of the clinical team--including parents--were that 13 of the participants noticeably improved.
Another of their advantages is that they even combat other microorganisms in the soil that cause plant diseases.
and specifically to combat the impact of the Sclerotinia sclerotiorum pathogen which affects roots. In the experiment the effectiveness of other organic fertilizers like the bokashi type compost of Japanese origin will also be tested.
which led to more illness and--as a result--an increased consumption of tetracyclines in turkeys.
An increased occurrence of diarrhea in broilers in 2013 can partly explain the increased consumption of penicillins which are an effective treatment against diarrhea.
For this reason a few outbreaks of illness can cause significant fluctuations in the annual consumption data Yvonne Agersã¸explains.
or life-threatening infections in humans These types include carbapenems third and fourth generation cephalosporins fluoroquinolones and macrolides.
In 1995 16-month old Kumari the first Asian elephant born at the National Zoo in WASHINGTON DC died of a then-mysterious illness.
and compare the sequences of multiple segments of many different types of EEHV genomes directly from pathological blood
and nearly ubiquitous infections of Asian elephants that are shed occasionally in trunk washes and saliva of most healthy asymptomatic adult animals.
Hayward notes that only one example of a lethal cross-species infection with EEHV3 into an Asian elephant calf has been observed
Close monitoring of Asian elephant calves in zoos has enabled so far lifesaving treatment for at least nine infected Asian calves says Hayward suggesting that such monitoring may ultimately enable determining why some animals become susceptible to severe disease after their primary EEHV1 infections
lest water releases do more harm than good. Several decades of applied research guided the planning for the engineered spring flood on the lower Colorado this year
or had higher levels of biomarkers of tobacco exposure had a higher prevalence of the sexually transmitted infection oral human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) according to a study in the October 8 JAMA a theme issue
on infectious disease. Oral HPV-16 is believed to be responsible for the increase in incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell cancers in the United states. An association between self-reported number of cigarettes currently smoked per day
and oral HPV prevalence has been observed according to background information in the article. Carole Fakhry M d. M p h. of the Johns hopkins university School of medicine Baltimore and colleagues investigated associations between objective biomarkers reflective of all current tobacco exposures (environmental smoking and use of smokeâ less tobacco
Self-reported and biological measures of tobacco exposure as well as oral sexual behavior were associated significantly with prevalent oral HPV-16 infection.
Average cotinine and NNAL levels were higher in individuals with vs without oral HPV-16 infection.
These findings highlight the need to evaluate the role of tobacco in the natural history of oral HPV-16 infection
and progression to malignancy the authors write. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association.
Vitamin a deficiency causes blindness in 250000 to 500000 children every year half of whom die within a year of losing their eyesight according to the World health organization.
Insufficient carotenoids may also contribute to macular degeneration in the elderly a leading cause of blindness in older populations in Europe
Discovery on how fungi avoid immune responses of plants leads to new generation of fungicidesplants that come under attack from pathogens have an automatic immune response.
This signalling mechanism occurs very early in the fungal infection process at a time when the fungi are most accessible to fungicide treatment.
In fact losses of wheat rice and maize to fungal pathogens per year are the same as the annual spend by US Department of Homeland Security--some 60 billion US dollars.
In order to efficiently protect crops we must better understand molecular mechanisms like these that occur in the very earliest stages of infection.
Speaking about the research Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Nick Talbot said The University of Exeter is committed to tackling fundamental research questions to help control plant diseases
because they have a large amount of crop pathogen. However this species has other subspecies that does not harm their host plants
and without the contamination issues than can produce the mineral fertilizers. Thus its application in agriculture horticulture forestry plants ornamental plants or any other plant with commercial interest would represent a significant environmental and economic saving.
#U s. releases 13th Report on Carcinogensfour substances have been added in the U s. Department of health and human services 13th Report on Carcinogens a science-based document that identifies chemical biological and physical agents that are considered cancer hazards for people living
Identifying substances in our environment that can make people vulnerable to cancer will help in prevention efforts said Linda Birnbaum Ph d. director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National
and it empowers the public with information people can use to reduce exposure to cancer causing substances.
A listing in the report indicates a cancer hazard but does not by itself mean that a substance will cause cancer.
Many factors including the amount and duration of exposure and an individual's susceptibility to a substance can affect
whether a person will develop cancer. One substance added as a known human carcinogensince 1983 ortho-toluidine has been listed in the Report on Carcinogens as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.
However new cancer studies led NTP to reevaluate and reclassify ortho-toluidine and it is added now to the category of known to be a human carcinogen based on studies in humans showing it causes urinary bladder cancer.
Ortho-toluidine is a synthetic chemical produced in other countries and imported into the United states by several companies in high volumes.
No human studies were identified that evaluated the relationship between human cancer and exposure specifically to 1-bromopropane.
However inhalation exposure to 1-bromopropane in rodents caused tumors in several organs including the skin lungs and large intestine.
Inhalation exposure to cumene caused lung tumors in male and female mice and liver tumors in female mice.
No human studies were identified that looked at the relationship between human cancer and exposure specifically to cumene.
Exposure to this mixture was associated with an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in studies in humans.
It also caused tumors in the liver and other organs in mice. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS.
The problem with the approach is you're assuming all individuals within a species are identical like assuming all humans will respond identically to an illness said Fitzpatrick.
Pet food safety was another area of concern particularly with pet foods that are formulated specifically to address food allergies in both cats and dogs continued Dr. Hellberg.
The discovery could help prevent some of the disorders associated with obesity such as low-grade chronic inflammation that can lead to diabetes.
and defend against invaders--an important step in preventing pathogens from contaminating fruits and vegetables. Now scientists have discovered that plants may package their commensal bacteria inside of seeds;
Pathogens can include viruses and bacteria that damage the plant itself or bacteria like the Shiga-toxin producing E coli O104:
Such opportunistic contamination is hard to guard against as most growing takes place in open outdoor spaces with little opportunity for control.
The hypothesis behind this research is that the best way to defend against pathogenic contamination is with a healthy microbiome colonized by bacteria provide protection from invasive pathogens.
What they found was the new strain of Bacillus pumilus a unique highly motile Gram-positive bacterium capable of colonizing the mung bean plant without causing any harm.
#Cow behavior changes in response to deterioration in healthwhen a cow develops mastitis her behaviour changes
A dairy cow becomes restless four hours after it contracts bacterial mastitis. Simultaneously the other symptoms of a steadily progressing inflammation such as increased body temperature
At a conventional milking stall mastitis is detected often as late as during a milking session
Mastitis is extremely harmful for both the farmer and the cow. When an inflammation has gained a footing the cow is seriously ill.
when by pregnant women they found that only (S)- thalidomide caused birth defects whereas (R)- thalidomide had desired the calming and anti-nausea effects.
The Max Planck scientists now want to identify the enzymes and the encoding genes that are responsible for the detoxification process in the fall armyworm.
but dietary quality could be improveda new American Cancer Society study suggests that participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP) previously known as the food stamp program had lower dietary quality scores compared with income eligible nonparticipants.
For their study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings researchers led by Binh T. Nguyen Phd of the American Cancer Society explored the diet quality of SNAP participants using data from a nationally representative sample of over 4000 adult
The above story is provided based on materials by American Cancer Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and mental health problems but high mental wellbeing is more than the absence of symptoms or illness;
and mean that people are likely to be able to enhance their mental wellbeing at the same time as preventing heart disease and cancer.
#Maternal breast milk is risk factor for cytomegalovirus transmission in premature infantspremature infants especially those born with very low-birth-weight (VLBW) are particularly vulnerable to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection because of their immature immune systems.
CMV infection can cause serious disease and in severe cases lead to death. Two important potential sources of CMV infection in premature infants are blood transfusions and breast milk.
Neither source has previously been examined systematically in a large enough study however to quantify the specific risks of infection
and identify risk factors to help guide prevention strategies. In a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics researchers have confirmed that the common strategy of transfusing blood products to VLBW infants that are CMV-seronegative
Using this transfusion approach maternal breast milk becomes the primary source of postnatal CMV infection among VLBW infants.
A majority of mothers had a history of CMV infection prior to delivery (CMV sero-prevalence of 76.2 percent.
The infants were tested at birth to evaluate for congenital infection and again at five additional intervals between birth and 90 days discharge or death.
A total of 29 out of the 539 enrolled infants were found to have CMV infection (cumulative incidence of 6. 9 percent at 12 weeks.
Five infants with CMV infection developed severe disease or died. Although 2061 transfusions were administered to 310 of the infants (57.5 percent) the blood products were CMV-seronegative
and leukoreduced and none of the CMV infections was linked to transfusion. Twenty-seven of 28 infections acquired after birth occurred among infants fed CMV-positive breast milk.
The authors estimate that between 1 in 5 and 1 in 10 VLBW infants who are fed CMV positive breast milk from mothers with a history of CMV infection will develop postnatal CMV infection.
We believe our study is the largest evaluation of both blood transfusion and breast-milk sources of postnatal CMV infection in VLBW infants says first author Cassandra Josephson MD from the Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine Emory University School of medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Previously the risk of CMV infection from blood transfusion of seronegative or leukoreduced transfusions was estimated to be 1 to 3 percent.
We showed that using blood components that are both CMV-seronegative and leukoreduced we can effectively prevent the transfusion-transmission of CMV.
Therefore we believe that this is the safest approach to reduce the risk of CMV infection when giving transfusions to VLBW infants.
Alternative approaches to prevent breast milk transmission of CMV say the authors could include routine CMV-serologic testing of pregnant mothers to enable counseling regarding the risk of infection;
Although most infants who develop CMV infection are asymptomatic in the neonatal period a minority progress to develop serious symptoms.
Routine screening for postnatal CMV infection may be one potential strategy to help identify these infants before they go on to develop symptomatic disease.
although the effect of asymptomatic postnatal CMV infection on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes is not clear the frequency of CMV infection in this study raises significant concern about the potential consequences of CMV infection among VLBW
infants and points to the need for large long-term follow-up studies of neurological outcomes in infants with postnatal CMV infection.
#Healthy lifestyle choices may dramatically reduce risk of heart attack in menfollowing a healthy lifestyle including maintaining a healthy weight
and diet exercise not smoking and moderating alcohol intake could prevent four out of five coronary events in men according to a new study publishing today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
While mortality from heart disease has declined in recent decades with much of the reduction attributed to medical therapies the authors said prevention through a healthy lifestyle avoids potential side effects of medication
and is more cost effective for population-wide reductions in coronary heart disease. For the study researchers examined a population of 20721 healthy Swedish men aged 45-79 years of age
The researchers found a clear reduction in risk for heart attack for each individual lifestyle factor the participants practiced.
For instance having a low-risk diet together with a moderate alcohol consumption led to an estimated 35 percent lower risk of heart attack compared to the high-risk group those who practice none of the low-risk factors.
Researchers found similar results in men with hypertension and high cholesterol levels. It is not surprising that healthy lifestyle choices would lead to a reduction in heart attacks said Agneta Akesson Ph d. Associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine Karolinska Institutet Stockholm
and lead author of the study. What is surprising is how drastically the risk dropped due to these factors.
The burden of cardiovascular disease could be reduced significantly through programs targeted to men and promoting low-risk lifestyle choices.
Even in those who take medication an additional reduction in risk for chronic heart disease has been observed in those with a healthy lifestyle.
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