[ Watch the Video: Breast Lifts Outpace Implants 2 To 1 ]

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

While breast implants are still the most popular plastic surgery among women, breast lifts have been growing in popularity in recent years, according to new statistics released on Monday by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

“Many women are looking for a youthful breast by using the tissue they already have,” said Dr. Robert X. Murphy, president of the ASPS, in a press release.

“The breast lift procedure is way up in my practice,” said Dr. Anne Taylor, an ASPS-member plastic surgeon in Columbus, Ohio. “More women are coming to us who’ve had children, whose breast volume has decreased and who are experiencing considerable sagging. For many of them, we are able to get rid of excess skin and lift the breasts back up where they’re supposed to be.”

According to the society’s own statistics, breast lift operations have grown by 70 percent since 2000, outpacing implants two-to-one. The ASPS also said women between the ages of 30 and 54 made up nearly 70 percent of the more than 90,000 breast lift procedures performed in 2013.

Many women lose breast tissue as they age and coupled with natural sagging over the years – some women may feel they need cosmetic surgery to address the issue. A breast lift procedure, also known as mastopexy, involves raising the breasts by removing skin and reshaping the surrounding tissue. In its official website, the ASPS warns that a breast lift does not increase the size of the breast or round out the upper part of the breast.

“The ideal candidate for a breast lift is a woman who has a good amount of breast tissue left, who doesn’t necessarily want to have implants,” Murphy said. “Many women aren’t sure if they are a candidate for this type of surgery, but a simple pencil test can tell them if they are.”

Murphy said a pencil test is self-test that can be performed by a woman simply placing a pencil under her breast.

“If the breast tissue holds the pencil in place against the chest, that implies that there’s a hanging nature to the breast that can be fixed with a lift,” Murphy said.

According to the ASPS statistics, less than 53,000 breast lifts were performed in 2000. Last year marked first time that number eclipsed 90,000. However, breast implants are still the most popular plastic surgery procedure for women. In 2013, there were more than 290,000 breast augmentation procedures conducted by ASPS member surgeons – representing a growth of 37 percent since 2000, just less than half the rate of breast lifts.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the rate of breast reconstruction after mastectomy has increased over the years, up more than 20 percent since 1998.

While some said the news was a positive sign that more women are becoming aware they have the option of breast reconstruction after a mastectomy, some surgeons said it might not all be good news after all.

“It is great to see that more women are becoming aware of the option for breast reconstruction after mastectomy,” said Dr. Chet Nastala of the PRMA Center for Advanced Breast Reconstruction. “Unfortunately, the study also suggests that women are mostly being offered breast implants rather than tissue flap techniques.”

American College of Cardiology

Study shows lower prevalence of plaque build-up in women, but not men

Women who ate a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables as young adults were much less likely to have plaque build-up in their arteries 20 years later compared with those who consumed lower amounts of these foods, according to research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 63rd Annual Scientific Session. This new finding reinforces the importance of developing healthy eating habits early in life.

Previous studies have found that middle-aged adults whose diet consists of a high proportion of fruits and vegetables are less likely to have a heart attack or stroke, but the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption during young adulthood and heart disease later in life was less clear. To study this concept, researchers evaluated the association between dietary intake of fruits and vegetables in young adults and the presence of coronary artery calcification (CAC) 20 years later. CAC scores, which were obtained using a CT scan, provide a direct estimate of the amount of plaque in the coronary arteries.

“It’s an important question because lifestyle behaviors, such as a heart healthy diet, are the foundation of cardiovascular prevention and we need to know what dietary components are most important,” said Michael D. Miedema, M.D., M.P.H., a cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, and the lead investigator of the study.

Specifically, women who reported consuming the most fruits and vegetables (eight to nine servings a day for a 2,000-calorie diet) in their 20s were 40 percent less likely to have calcified plaque in their arteries in their 40s compared with those who ate the least amount (three to four servings a day) during the same time period. This association persisted even after researchers accounted for other lifestyle behaviors, as well as for their current-day diets, further demonstrating the role dietary patterns at younger ages may play.

“These findings confirm the concept that plaque development is a lifelong process, and that process can be slowed down with a healthy diet at a young age,” Miedema said. “This is often when dietary habits are established, so there is value in knowing how the choices we make in early life have lifelong benefits.”

Surprisingly, the same benefit did not hold true for men, which warrants further investigation.

“Several other studies have also suggested that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is less protective in men, but we do not have a good biological reason for this lack of association,” Miedema said, adding that the study had less power to evaluate men (62.7 percent were female vs. 37.3 percent male).

The study included 2,508 participants from the ongoing government-sponsored Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which is evaluating how heart disease develops throughout adulthood. CARDIA began in the mid-1980s with a group of men and women 18-30 years of age and has collected extensive data on medical, socioeconomic, psychosocial and behavioral characteristics.

At the start of CARDIA (1985-1986), women and men were asked about their consumption of different fruits and vegetables and the number of servings they had eaten in the past month using a semi-quantitative interview food-frequency questionnaire. Researchers then calculated the average number of servings of fruits and vegetables per day and adjusted them to a 2,000-calorie diet. People were divided into three groups based on self-reported fruit and vegetable intake: high, moderate and low. CAC was measured at year 20 (2005-2006) using electron-beam computed tomography. The average age at baseline and the 20-year follow-up was 25 and 45 years, respectively.

“CAC scoring is currently the best predictor we have for future heart attacks,” Miedema said. Calcium build-up in the walls of the coronary arteries is an early sign of heart disease, and the presence of CAC substantially raises an individual’s risk for a future heart attack.

In their analysis, researchers controlled for smoking, exercise, consumption of red meat, sugar-sweetened beverages and other dietary and cardiovascular risk factors that correlate with atherosclerosis. Participants with extreme high or low caloric intake/day or those missing CAC scores were excluded from the analysis.

The current findings are in line with the 2011 U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines that advise Americans to fill half of their plates with colorful fruits and vegetables at each meal or snack. Based on these recommendations, adults who consume a 2,000-calorie a day diet should be consuming 2.5 cups of vegetables and two cups of fruit a day – a big jump from what the average American usually gets from their diet, according to government figures.

Fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and other things that are known to promote good health. Plant-based diets in general have also been linked to greater longevity, less cancer, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and healthier body weight.

Miedema emphasized that more studies are needed to further define the relationship between fruits, vegetables and cardiovascular disease in men and women, in addition to determining the best ways to increase compliance with a diet high in fruits and vegetables in the US population.

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redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Updated blood pressure guidelines announced earlier this year could mean that nearly six million American adults would no longer need hypertension medication, according to research published online Saturday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study, which was also presented during the 2014 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Washington DC, also found that strictly applying the reduced blood pressure goal would be considered to have achieved the targeted blood pressure for their age groups, researchers from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina said in a statement Saturday.

According to the paper’s authors, this is the first peer-reviewed analysis to examine the impact of the revised guidelines announced last month by the Eighth Joint National Committee. As part of their recommendations, the committee lowered the blood pressure goal for those over the age of 60 from 140/90 to 150/90, and also reduced target BP levels for US adults diagnosed with diabetes and kidney disease.

“Raising the target in older adults is controversial, and not all experts agree with this new recommendation,” explained Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, lead author of the study and a cardiology fellow at the Duke University School of Medicine. “In this study, we wanted to determine the number of adults affected by these changes.”

The Duke investigators, along with colleagues from McGill University in Montreal, used data collected between 2005 and 2010 as part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Based on a sample of 16,000 people, the authors determined that the proportion of American adults eligible for hypertension would fall from 40.6 percent to 31.7 percent under the new guidelines.

Furthermore, they estimated the proportion of younger adults (those between the ages of 18 and 59) considered to have treatment-eligible high blood pressure would fall from 20.3 percent under the old guidelines to 19.2 percent under the new ones. For men and women 60 years of age or older, the percentage would fall from 68.9 percent to 61.2 percent. Overall, 5.8 million adults would no longer be classified as needing hypertension medication.

“Public health messaging should target the large number of adults in the United States with changing recommendations under new guideline to ensure that new recommendations do not result in unintended consequences in adults now with ‘relabeled’ BP status,” the authors wrote, adding that additional research was needed to determine the impact of the new guidelines on overall blood pressure levels.

“The new guidelines do not address whether these adults should still be considered as having hypertension. But they would no longer need medication to lower their blood pressure,” added Navar-Boggan. “These adults would be eligible for less intensive blood pressure medication under the new guidelines, particularly if they were experiencing side effects. But many experts fear that increasing blood pressure levels in these adults could be harmful.”

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Middle school students who watch at least two hours of television per day are more likely to experience cardiovascular disease risk factors than those spending an equal amount of time surfing the Internet or playing video games, according to a new study backed by the Project Healthy Schools (PHS) program.

The study, which was presented during the American College of Cardiology’s (AAC) 63rd Annual Scientific Sessions, found that excessive TV viewing habits among members of that age group was also associated with an increased likelihood of consuming junk food.

“While too much of both types of screen time encourages sedentary behavior, our study suggests high TV time in particular is associated with poorer food choices and increased cardiovascular risk,” senior author Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, an associate professor in the University of Michigan Systems Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, explained in a statement Friday.

Dr. Jackson and her colleagues reported that sixth-grade students who reported viewing between two and six hours of television each day were more likely to have higher body mass index, elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure and slower recovery heart rate when compared to those reporting lower levels of screen time and those reporting a comparable amount of computer or video game console use.

The study authors recruited 1,003 sixth-graders from 24 southeastern Michigan middle schools participating in the PHS program, a school-based initiative designed to reduce childhood obesity and the long-term health risks associated with the condition. The authors said this marks the first time that experts have analyzed the impact of different types of screen time on snacking habits and physiological measures associated with heart health.

Using standardized questionnaires, the researchers collected information about the students’ health behaviors, including the type and frequency of screen time, snacking habits and the types of food and beverages consumed during the last 24 hours. They also collected physiological measurements such as height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and heart rate recovery following exercise.

The pupils were divided into three groups based on the amount and type of screen time, and the investigators then compared the self-reported snack behavior and physiologic markers of each. They found that kids who spent two to six hours per day in front of a screen – regardless if they were watching TV, playing video games or working on a computer – were more likely to snack more frequently and were less likely to make healthy choices.

However, children who spent those two to six hours per day watching television programs were more likely than high computer or video game users to consume French fries, chips or other foods high in fat. Jackson believes this is because they are inundated by commercials that tend to reinforce foods that are less healthy, and because they have free hands – unlike those youngsters typing on keyboards or operating game controllers.

“Snacks are important, and choosing a piece of fruit rather than a bag of chips can make a really big difference for one’s health,” said Jackson. “Parents need to monitor their kids’ activities. Our results offer even more reason to limit the amount of TV time kids have and are right in line with current recommendations.”

Despite American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that children be limited to less than two hours of screen time per day, the AAC said that kids actually spend more than seven hours each day with entertainment media, including 4.5 hours watching television. The new study did not collect information about whether the snacking occurred while watching TV, and did not include video consoles that promote activity, such as the Nintendo Wii.

“The wealth of studies now show a significant link between being overweight in childhood and continuing that trend into adulthood. The more we can change behavior early on to promote healthy weight and dietary habits, the more likely we will be able to reduce adult-related problems including heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure,” Jackson explained, adding that additional research would be needed in order to discover effective ways to limit unhealthy snacking and TV viewing, while also promoting healthy foods and activities.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Steering clear of pesticides in food won’t reduce a woman’s likelihood of developing cancer, researchers from the Oxford University Cancer Epidemiology Unit claim in a recently-published report.

The study, which was published last week by the British Journal of Cancer, found that women who always or primarily consumed organic foods had the same likelihood of developing cancer as those whose diets consisted mostly of traditionally processed foods.

Dr. Kathryn Bradbury and her colleagues polled approximately 600,000 female subjects who were at least 50 years of age whether or not they regularly consumed organic foods as part of the Million Women Study. They also looked at how many women went on to develop 16 of the most common forms of cancer in the nine-year period following the study.

Overall, approximately 50,000 women developed cancer during that time. However, Dr. Bradbury’s team discovered no difference in the overall cancer risk between the 180,000 women who said that they had never eaten organic food with the roughly 45,000 ladies who said that the usually or always consume organically grown products.

The scientists also looked individually at the 16 most common types of the disease, and found a slight increase in the risk of developing breast cancer and a reduction in the likelihood of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma in women who ate primarily organic food. However, that could be due in part to luck and other factors, the authors noted.

“In this large study of middle-aged women in the UK we found no evidence that a woman’s overall cancer risk was decreased if she generally ate organic food,” study author and Oxford University epidemiology professor Tim Key said in a statement Friday.

The agricultural industry frequently uses pesticides, and recently many consumers have become concerned that they could increase the risk of cancer. While the study authors report that conventionally grown fruits and vegetables can contain trace amounts of pesticides, there is no evidence to suggest that eating them increases cancer risk.

“This study adds to the evidence that eating organically grown food doesn’t lower your overall cancer risk. But if you’re anxious about pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables, it’s a good idea to wash them before eating,” explained Dr. Claire Knight of Cancer Research UK.

“Scientists have estimated that over 9 percent of cancer cases in the UK may be linked to dietary factors, of which almost 5 percent are linked to not eating enough fruit and vegetables,” she added. “So eating a well-balanced diet which is high in fruit and vegetables – whether conventionally grown or not – can help reduce your cancer risk.”

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A new study from the University of Warwick’s Department of Psychology suggests that chronic pain sufferers could be kept physically active by improving the quality of their sleep. The researchers found that not only was sleep an answer to pain-related insomnia, but it is a worthy target for treating chronic pain. Their results have been published in a recent issue of PLOS ONE.
Chronic pain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is a pain that persists for six months or longer. This past August, redOrbit’s Enid Burns reported that more and more patients suffer from chronic pain, with an estimated 100 million people in the US living with the condition.
“Engaging in physical activity is a key treatment process in pain management. Very often, clinicians would prescribe exercise classes, physiotherapy, walking and cycling programs as part of the treatment, but who would like to engage in these activities when they feel like a zombie?” said Dr. Nicole Tang.
Dr. Tang collaborated with Dr. Adam Sanborn to investigate the day-to-day association between night-time sleep and daytime physical activity in patients with chronic pain. “Many of the patients struggled to stay physically active after the onset of pain and we found that chronic pain patients spontaneously engaged in more physical activity following a better night of sleep.”
“The research points to sleep as not only an answer to pain-related insomnia but also as a novel method to keep sufferers physically active, opening a new avenue for improving the quality of life of chronic pain sufferers,” Dr Tang said in a recent statement.
The study participants, all chronic pain patients, wore an accelerometer that measured motor activity to monitor their physical activity around the clock for a week in their usual sleeping and waking environment. Using an electronic diary every morning on waking, the participants also gave ratings of their sleep quality, pain intensity and mood.
Time specific data was used to determine for individual participants whether the quality of their sleep had an impact on how physically active they were the following day. The researchers fit multilevel models for each predictor, finding that the only reliable predictor of physical activity was sleep quality. In fact, a comparison of the multilevel models revealed that sleep was the only reliable predictor of physical activity.
Dr. Tang commented that “the prospect of promoting physical activity by regulating sleep may offer a novel solution to an old problem.”
“The current study identified sleep quality, rather than pain and low mood, as a key driver of physical activity the next day. The finding challenges the conventional target of treatment being primarily focused on changing what patients do during the day. Sleep has a naturally recuperative power that is often overlooked in pain management. A greater treatment emphasis on sleep may help patients improve their daytime functioning and hence their quality of life,” argued Dr Tang.

University Of Melbourne

Our brains are hardwired to stop us drinking more water than is healthy, according to a new brain imaging study led by The University Of Melbourne and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

The study found a ‘stop mechanism’ that determined brain signals telling the individual to stop drinking water when no longer thirsty, and the brain effects of drinking more water than required.

Researcher Professor Derek Denton from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne said the study provided insight into the human instincts that determine survival behavior and are also of medical importance.

“Different areas of the brain involved in emotional decision-making were activated when people drank water after becoming thirsty and when study participants followed instructions to keep drinking when no longer thirsty.”

“The brain regions determining the signals to stop drinking have not previously been recognised in this context. It identifies an important component in regulation and this ‘stop mechanism’ may prevent complications from excessive water intake,” he said.

Overdrinking can reduce the salt concentration of the blood that can result in the swelling of the brain, a potentially fatal condition. Also known as polydipsia, it has been found in some patients with schizophrenia and in some marathon runners.

Professor Denton believes the findings could be applied to other aspects of human gratification.

“This is a study of elements of gratification and how the body programs accurate behaviour. In revealing aspects of gratification control, the data are relevant to study the gratification of other instincts, such as food intake, salt intake and sexual behaviour,” he said.

The study used magnetic resonance imaging to scan two physiological conditions of the brain, starting with scanning brain regions during the experience of thirst. Participants were then removed from the scanner and asked to drink to satiation or ‘overdrink’ and returned for further scanning.

The study was done in collaboration with the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and Monash Biomedical Imaging.

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Rebekah Eliason for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A new study from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Allen Institute for Brain Science provides evidence that the development of autism begins during pregnancy.

For this study, 25 genes in the post-mortem brain tissue of children both with autism and without were analyzed. Researchers included Eric Courchesne, PhD, professor of neurosciences and director of the Autism Center of Excellence at UC San Diego, Ed Lein, PhD, of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, and Rich Stoner, PhD, of the UC San Diego Autism Center of Excellence. The genes studied included those that function as biomarkers for brain cell types located in different layers of the cortex, genes that are implicated in autism, as well as several control genes.

“Building a baby’s brain during pregnancy involves creating a cortex that contains six layers,” Courchesne said. “We discovered focal patches of disrupted development of these cortical layers in the majority of children with autism.”

Stoner developed the first three-dimensional model that displayed visualization of brain locations where patches of the cortex did not develop in the normal cell-layering pattern.

“The most surprising finding was the similar early developmental pathology across nearly all of the autistic brains, especially given the diversity of symptoms in patients with autism, as well as the extremely complex genetics behind the disorder,” explained Lein.

Early in the development of the brain, specific types of brain cells are developed in each cortical layer. The pattern of brain connectivity in every layer is unique and performs important roles for processing information. During the development of brain cells into specific types and layers with specialized connections, a distinct genetic signature or “marker” is acquired and allows for later observation.

In this study, researchers discovered that key genetic markers were missing in the brain cells of multiple layers for children with autism. “This defect,” Courchesne said, “indicates that the crucial early developmental step of creating six distinct layers with specific types of brain cells – something that begins in prenatal life – had been disrupted.”

An equally important observation was how the early developmental defects were present in focal patches of cortex. This suggests that the defect is not uniform in the cortex. The frontal cortex and temporal cortex were regions that displayed the most focal patches of absent gene markers. This provides a possible explanation for why different functional systems are affected across individuals with autism.

The frontal cortex is an area associated with higher-order brain functions such as complex communication and the comprehension of social cues. Language is associated with the temporal cortex. The frontal and temporal cortical layer disruptions discovered in this study may underlie the symptoms most commonly displayed in the autism spectrum. Interestingly, the visual cortex, which is an area of the brain associated with perception that is usually spared in autism, had no abnormal displays.

“The fact that we were able to find these patches is remarkable, given that the cortex is roughly the size of the surface of a basketball, and we only examined pieces of tissue the size of a pencil eraser,” said Lein. “This suggests that these abnormalities are quite pervasive across the surface of the cortex.”

Developed by a consortium of partners, the data collected for the Allen Brain Atlas, as well as the BrainSpan Atlas of the Developing Human Brain was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. This information allowed researchers to identify the specific genes in the developing human brain that were used as biomarkers among the cell types of different layers.

Since typical study of autism relies on the study of adult brains and extrapolating backwards, researching the origins of autism is uniquely challenging. “In this case,” Lein noted, “we were able to study autistic and control cases at a young age, giving us a unique insight into how autism presents in the developing brain.”

“The finding that these defects occur in patches rather than across the entirety of cortex gives hope as well as insight about the nature of autism,” added Courchesne.

The presence of patchy defects instead of a uniform cortical pathology may provide an explanation for why many toddlers with autism exhibit clinical improvement from early treatment over time. This study provides evidence supporting the idea that children with autism can sometimes rewire connections in the brain to help circumvent early focal defects. This study provides hope that the understanding of these patches could help to explore new ways that the improvement occurs.

This study was published March 27 in the online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Ohio State University researchers say teens may not be as addicted to sugary soft drinks as one might think.

Scientists asked high school students to take part in a 30-day challenge encouraging them to reduce their sugary soft drinks intake in order to help reduce the largest source of added sugar in the US diet. The results from the “Sodabriety” challenge were encouraging.

Students involved in the study were asked to create a teen advisory council that would help lead interventions at the high schools, design marketing campaigns, plan school assemblies and share a fact per day about sugar-sweetened drinks. The campaign was aiming for students to cut back from sugar-sweetened drinks for 30-days.

Researchers found that this campaign helped lower the teens’ intake of sugary drinks, and increased the percentage of high schoolers who abstained from drinking the soft drinks altogether. They also discovered that water consumption among participants increased significantly by 60 days after the start of the program, even without promotion of water as a substitute for the drinks.

“The students’ water consumption before the intervention was lousy. I don’t know how else to say it. But we saw a big improvement in that,” Laureen Smith, associate professor of nursing at Ohio State and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “And there was a huge reduction in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. The kids were consuming them fewer days per week and when they were consuming these drinks, they had fewer servings.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that about 80 percent of youth consume sugar-sweetened beverages daily, and these drinks can contribute to between 13 and 28 percent of their daily calorie intake. The teens at the schools that took part in the study program have some of the higher rates of sugary beverage consumption compared with others the same age at other schools.

Before the study started, nearly half of the students reported buying sugary drinks from places like vending machines and the cafeteria. Moreover, 63 percent of students reported consuming sugary drinks at least three days per week.

After the challenge, nearly 60 percent of students reported consuming sugary drinks fewer than three days each week.

“We’re teaching kids to help themselves, and it’s a really cost-effective way of promoting health and delivering a message,” Smith said. “We tend to think first of risky behaviors when we study adolescents, but they do positive things, too. With the right guidance and support, they are powerful influencers. We might as well use peer pressure to our advantage.”

American Chemical Society
Sanitary-minded pool-goers who preach “no peeing in the pool,” despite ordinary and Olympic swimmers admitting to the practice, now have scientific evidence to back up their concern. Researchers are reporting that when mixed, urine and chlorine can form substances that can cause potential health problems. Their study appears in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Jing Li, Ernest Blatchley, III, and colleagues note that adding chlorine to pool water is the most common way to kill disease-causing microbes and prevent swimmers from getting sick. But as people swim, splash, play — and pee — in the pool, chlorine mixes with sweat and urine and makes other substances. Two of these compounds, including trichloramine (NCl3) and cyanogen chloride (CNCl), are ubiquitous in swimming pools. The first one is associated with lung problems, and the second one can also affect the lungs, as well as the heart and central nervous system. But scientists have not yet identified all of the specific ingredients in sweat and urine that could cause these potentially harmful compounds to form. So Li’s team looked at how chlorine interacts with uric acid, a component of sweat and urine.
They mixed uric acid and chlorine, and within an hour, both NCl3 and CNCl formed. Though some uric acid comes from sweat, the scientists calculated that more than 90 percent of the compound in pools comes from urine. They conclude that swimmers can improve pool conditions by simply urinating where they’re supposed to — in the bathrooms.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Swimming Pool Foundation.

American Chemical Society

The smells of summer — the sweet fragrance of newly opened flowers, the scent of freshly cut grass and the aroma of meats cooking on the backyard grill — will soon be upon us. Now, researchers are reporting that the very same beer that many people enjoy at backyard barbeques could, when used as a marinade, help reduce the formation of potentially harmful substances in grilled meats. The study appears in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

I.M.P.L.V.O. Ferreira and colleagues explain that past studies have shown an association between consumption of grilled meats and a high incidence of colorectal cancer. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are substances that can form when meats are cooked at very high temperatures, like on a backyard grill. And high levels of PAHs, which are also in cigarette smoke and car exhaust, are associated with cancers in laboratory animals, although it’s uncertain if that’s true for people. Nevertheless, the European Union Commission Regulation has established the most suitable indicators for the occurrence and carcinogenic potency of PAHs in food and attributed maximum levels for these compounds in foods. Beer, wine or tea marinades can reduce the levels of some potential carcinogens in cooked meat, but little was known about how different beer marinades affect PAH levels, until now.

The researchers grilled samples of pork marinated for four hours in Pilsner beer, non-alcoholic Pilsner beer or a black beer ale, to well-done on a charcoal grill. Black beer had the strongest effect, reducing the levels of eight major PAHs by more than half compared with unmarinated pork. “Thus, the intake of beer marinated meat can be a suitable mitigation strategy,” say the researchers.

The authors acknowledge funding from Universidade do Porto.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

According to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, peach extract could slow down the growth and spread of breast cancer.

Scientists working with mice discovered that a mixture of phenolic compounds found in peach extract inhibits breast cancer metastasis. The team said that the compounds could be a new addition to therapies to help reduce the risk of metastasis, which is the primary killer in breast and many other cancers.

“I would do three peaches a day,” Giuliana Noratto, Washington State University assistant professor of food science, said in a statement. “Having enough fruits and vegetables that can provide these compounds in our diet, we might have a similar preventive effect.”

For the study, the team implanted breast cancer cells beneath the skin of mice at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research laboratory. This technique is used to look at the growth of breast cancer cells in living animals, mimicking the interactions by which it forms and progresses.

The researchers fed the mice varying doses of peach polyhpenols after giving the cells about a week to establish. The compounds given to the mice help plants ward off the damaging effects of the sun’s UV radiation.

“There are several studies showing that these compounds act as antioxidants and can therefore protect DNA against damage that can produce cancer,” said Noratto. “We didn’t even think about metastasis at that time. The surprise was we analyzed lungs and beside the fact that the peach compounds inhibited the growth of the tumor, they also inhibited the metastasis levels on the lungs.”

After 12 days the researchers saw that mice fed with high levels of polyphenols had tumors that grew less and without much of the blood vessel formation that helps cancer spread. The tumors in the mice also had less evidence of enzymes involved in the spread of cancer.

“The importance of our findings are very relevant, because it shows in vivo the effect that natural compounds, in this case the phenolic compounds in peach, have against breast cancer and metastasis. It gives opportunity to include in the diet an additional tool to prevent and fight this terrible disease that affects so many people,” Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, a food scientist for AgriLife Research in College Station, said in a statement.

He said the researchers are enthusiastic about the idea that consuming just two to three peaches a day could obtain a similar effect in humans.

“However, this will have to be the next step in the study for its confirmation,” Cisneros-Zevallos said.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Electronic cigarettes do not help people quit smoking, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco surveyed 949 smokers to determine whether E-cigarettes actually help people quit smoking; participants in the study used both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes.

The researchers analyzed self-reported data from the smokers to determine if the e-cigarettes were associated with more successful cessation attempts or reduced cigarette consumption. They found that e-cigarette use at baseline was not linked with quitting one year later or with a change in cigarette consumption.

According to the study results, e-cigarette users were less likely to have quit at seven months later than nonusers.

The scientists also found that more women, younger adults and people who had less education used e-cigarettes.

The study’s findings may only be taken with a grain of salt because 88 (9.3 percent) of the participants actually used e-cigarettes at baseline.

“Nonetheless, our data add to the current evidence that e-cigarettes may not increase rates of smoking cessation. Regulations should prohibit advertising claiming or suggesting that e-cigarettes are effective smoking cessation devices until claims are supported by scientific evidence,” the authors wrote in the journal.

The team says that advertising suggesting that e-cigarettes are effective as a smoking cessation should be prohibited until these claims are supported by evidence.

“Unfortunately, the evidence on whether e-cigarettes help smokers to quit is contradictory and inconclusive. Grana and colleagues increase the weight of evidence indicating that e-cigarettes are not associated with higher rates of smoking cessation,” Mitchell H. Katz, MD, a deputy editor of JAMA Internal Medicine, said in a statement.

Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, says researchers should think of e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to cigarettes.

He told the BBC that the new study shows that e-cigarettes appeal to smokers who are heavily dependent on tobacco, and the same results could be found if the survey looked at smokers trying other nicotine-replacement treatments.

David Tenenbaum, University of Wisconsin-Madison

As stem cells continue their gradual transition from the lab to the clinic, a research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells and muscle progenitors from human stem cells.

The new method, described in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, could be used to generate large numbers of muscle cells and muscle progenitors directly from human pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells, such as embryonic (ES) or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can be made into virtually any adult cell in the body.

Adapting a method previously used to make brain cells, Masatoshi Suzuki, an assistant professor of comparative biosciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, has directed those universal stem cells to become both adult muscle cells and muscle progenitors.

Importantly, the new technique grows the pluripotent stem cells as floating spheres in high concentrations of two growth factors, fibroblast growth factor-2 and epidermal growth factor. These growth factors “urge” the stem cells to become muscle cells.

“Researchers have been looking for an easy way to efficiently differentiate stem cells into muscle cells that would be allowable in the clinic,” says Suzuki. The novelty of this technique is that it generates a larger number of muscle stem cells without using genetic modification, which is required by existing methods for making muscle cells.

“Many other protocols have been used to enhance the number of cells that go to a muscle fate,” says co-author Jonathan Van Dyke, a post-doctoral fellow in Suzuki’s laboratory. “But what’s exciting about the new protocol is that we avoid some techniques that would prohibit clinical applications. We think this new method has great promise for alleviating human suffering.”

Last year, Suzuki demonstrated that transplants of another type of human stem cells somewhat improved survival and muscle function in rats that model amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS destroys nerves and causes a loss of muscle control. The muscle progenitors generated with Suzuki’s new method could potentially play a similar role but with enhanced effect.

The new technique can also be used to grow muscle cells from iPS cells from patients with neuromuscular diseases like ALS, spinal muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophy. Thus, the technique could produce adult muscle cells in a dish that carry genetic diseases. These cells could then be used as a tool for studying these diseases and screening potential drug compounds, says Suzuki. “Our protocol can work in multiple ways and so we hope to provide a resource for people who are exploring specific neuromuscular diseases in the laboratory.”

The new protocol incorporates a number of advantages. First, the cells are grown in defined supplements without animal products such as bovine serum, enhancing the clinical safety for the muscle stem cells. Second, when grown as spheres, the cells grow faster than with previous techniques. Third, 40 to 60 percent of the cells grown using the process are either muscle cells or muscle progenitors, a high proportion compared to traditional non-genetic techniques of generating muscle cells from human ES and iPS cells.

Suzuki and his group hope that by further manipulating the chemical environment of the spheres of stem cells, they may increase that number, further easing the path toward human treatment.

[ Watch The Video: Safe Children? ]

University of Iowa
As parents, we’ve all been there: Watching our children teeter on a chair, leap from the sofa, or careen about the playground, fearing the worst. And, we all wonder, how can we teach them to be safer?
Such was the goal of a team of researchers at the University of Iowa, who analyzed in a new study how children take stock of various real-life scenarios, and how mothers can help them assess potential hazards. Their conclusions: Children and mothers regularly don’t see eye-to-eye on situational dangers. Because of that, it’s critical that mothers explain why a situation is dangerous, beyond simply administering a verbal slap on the wrist.
“One of the biggest worries for any parent is keeping their child safe from injury,” explains Jodie Plumert, UI psychology professor and co-author on the study, published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology. “It’s pretty simple when the child is young, because parents directly supervise him (or her). But what about when the child gets older, becomes more independent and goes out on his own? That’s when the responsibility for staying safe transfers from the parent to the child. And that means the child has to be able to assess the danger of situations. We think parent-child conversations are the bridge to doing that.”
Of course, children can learn to be more careful by simply trying stuff. But Plumert’s team wanted to know whether parents could pre-empt that, and, if so, how. To find out, the researchers showed 63 mothers and their 8- and 10-year-olds photos of other children engaged in various activities. Some – such as a photo of a child swinging a hand-held ax to chop wood or striking a match with a canister of lighter fluid nearby – screamed danger; others – such as riding a skateboard in the driveway or climbing on a countertop – appeared more benign. Separately, the mother and child rated the danger of each scenario on a four-point scale, from very safe to very unsafe. Children also were asked to rate how scared they’d be to perform the activity, also on a four-point scale.
The researchers then brought the mother and child together and asked them to agree on a “safety” rating for each scenario. In about a third of the cases, the mother and child rated the danger of the scenario differently, the researchers found. Despite the initial disagreement, the team also found that mothers were able to bring the child around to their way of thinking 80 percent of the time. In other words, the mother, in most cases, “encouraged their child to actively participate in independently thinking about the safety of the activities and also guided the child to their own way of thinking about the safety of the activities in cases of disagreement,” the researchers write.
So, how did they do that? That’s where talking became important, Plumert notes. But not just any kind of talk, she adds.
“Saying to your child, ‘Don’t do that’ or ‘Stop’ or ‘Be careful’ doesn’t really work,” Plumert says. “I mean, it’s okay to say that, but the next step is to say why not. You shouldn’t assume that your child knows why not, even if it seems obvious to you.”
Mothers used one tactic especially effectively: They pointed out the dangerous elements in the situation, and explained how those current dangers could cause the child to get hurt. The researchers were initially surprised that mothers focused more on the present features rather than pointing out potential outcomes, but think it’s because parents use the present – the danger – to help the child understand the potential outcome – getting injured.
Still, there are some children who are prone to injury, no matter what. These are the risk-takers, and the researchers learned that these children are more likely to view a situation as less dangerous than their peers.
“It’s like these kids discount the danger in the situations,” says Elizabeth O’Neal, a third-year graduate student in psychology and corresponding author on the paper. “I think, for them, there’s always this competition between being cautious and having fun.”
These children likely need more parental explanation to counteract their hell-bent-for-leather inclinations, the researchers say.
“In terms of intervention, the mother-child conversation might be especially important for these risk-takers than with the cautious kids,” Plumert notes.
O’Neal and Plumert are the paper’s sole authors. There was no outside funding for the research.
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Johns Hopkins Medicine
Magnetic pull of MRI shown in zebrafish and in people with common inner-ear disturbance
Expanding on earlier research, Johns Hopkins researchers report that people with balance disorders or dizziness traceable to an inner-ear disturbance show distinctive abnormal eye movements when the affected ear is exposed to the strong pull of an MRI’s magnetic field.
The researchers first reported in 2011 in the journal Current Biology that an MRI’s magnetic field pushes on the inner ear fluid responsible for maintaining balance, causing subjects undergoing MRI scans to have jerky eye movements and dizziness.
Two new studies now suggest that these strong magnets could be used to diagnose, treat and study inner ear disorders in the future, replacing more invasive and uncomfortable examinations.
In the first study, reported online March 13 in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, a team led by Bryan Ward, M.D., a resident in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, placed nine patients with balance problems in an MRI machine and took video of their eye movements, without taking any MRI images.
Their earlier research had shown that healthy volunteers subjected to a 7 Tesla magnetic field — the strength of the most modern MRI machine — experienced a characteristic eye movement called nystagmus, in which the eyes repeatedly drift to one side and then jerk back.
This time, the researchers were curious whether this movement might look different in patients with inner ear problems, whose semicircular canals — the fluid-filled spaces inside the ear that are responsible for maintaining balance — would likely react differently to the MRI magnet’s pull.
While healthy, normal volunteers’ eyes moved side to side when in the MRI, with the direction of movement dependent on whether they entered the MRI tunnel head or feet first, people with “one-sided” inner ear problems displayed different eye movements that depended on which ear was affected.
For example, Ward says, the eyes of patients whose left ear was affected drifted down and jerked up when put into the MRI tunnel head first. Those whose right ear was affected had an opposite movement. Both sets of patients showed patterns of rapid eye motions not seen in the healthy volunteers.
Because the abnormal findings consistently showed which ear was affected in the patients, Ward says, researchers may eventually be able to use magnetic stimulation to diagnose the cause of balance disorders. Currently, people whose dizziness or imbalance is suspected to originate in the inner ear may have eye movements measured after being spun around in a chair, tilted backward on special tables, or subjected to sometimes uncomfortable ear canal irrigation with cold or warm water.
Magnetic stimulation, acting as a virtual reality stimulator, could also offer an alternative to traditional physical therapy for balance disorders, which often involve rapid head movements that make patients dizzy.
“Using magnetic stimulation, perhaps in a portable device that could fit in a doctor’s office, could offer an alternative that’s more comfortable,” Ward says.
In a second study, published March 19 in the journal PLOS One, Ward and his colleagues set out to investigate whether the inner ear balance systems of zebrafish are also influenced by magnetic stimulation. Zebrafish are a popular model for genetics and pharmaceutical studies of hearing and balance because of their surprising anatomical similarity to humans’ vestibular systems, Ward says.
If the inner ears of these fish were also affected by a strong magnet’s pull, he says, these animals could eventually be a useful tool for studying which genes are involved in inherited inner ear balance problems or which drugs could be used to treat these disorders.
To investigate, the researchers placed 30 healthy zebrafish, one at a time, into a very strong 11.7 Tesla magnetic field, using a smaller MRI machine to better accommodate the aquarium used to hold each fish.
When the aquarium was in the magnetic field, the majority of fish responded in a dramatic way akin to the vertigo and imbalance that humans with inner ear system disturbances show: The fish flipped, rolled and swam faster than normal. The fish reverted to normal swimming behavior only when their aquarium was taken out of the MRI machine and away from the magnet.
To make sure this behavior wasn’t due to any vision changes or effects on the lateral line — an organ on the side of the body of a fish important for helping the animals maintain posture or sense electrical currents in the water — the researchers turned lights on and off every 30 seconds while the fish were in the magnetic field and also had them swim in the magnetic field after they’d been exposed to gentamicin, an antibiotic that kills off lateral line cells. Neither experiment changed the animals’ odd swimming behavior in the magnetic field.
The researchers further observed that individual fish seemed to be affected by the orientation of the magnetic field, swimming preferentially either in the direction of the magnetic field or in an opposite orientation. For example, some of the animals preferred to swim north-south in a north-south field, while others preferred to swim east-west. Putting the animals into an opposing field didn’t affect their preference. These results could add insight into the scientific field of magnetosensation, which studies how some animals are able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it for purposes such as migration, Ward says.
Overall, he adds, the findings in humans and fish could eventually lead to useful ways to harness the effect of an MRI magnet on the inner ear.
“We may someday have some practical applications for this anatomical oddity,” Ward says.
—

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Although someone smoking higher-quality cannabis may smoke less due to its potency, new research shows that they are still receiving a higher dose of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
For the past few years, there has been a floating theory that higher strength cannabis leads to higher doses of THC and poses a greater risk to unwanted effects like marijuana addiction. This theory has been labeled the “potent pot myth,” and the latest study shows that those worried about the “myth” who take in a little less are still getting more.
“We investigated whether consumers of stronger cannabis use less cannabis per joint or inhale less smoke than those using less potent cannabis and whether these factors predict cannabis dependence severity,” said researchers, publishing a paper in the journal Addiction.
The team from The Netherlands studied 98 participants who rolled a joint and smoked their own cannabis for the study. The team analyzed the content of the joint, its association with smoking behavior and the cross-sectional and prospective relations between smoking behavior and cannabis dependence severity.
The Dutch researchers observed that those who made strong joints inhaled smaller volumes of smoke, most likely because they were compensating for higher-potent pot. However, they discovered that these efforts to titrate the amount of THC into the body were only partially successful.
“THC concentrations in the marijuana was correlated positively with cannabis dose per joint, but the resulting THC concentration per joint was associated negatively with inhalation volume,” the authors wrote.
The team said that smoking behavior measures predicted follow-up dependence severity, independently of baseline dependence and severity and monthly THC dose.
“Cannabis users titrate their delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol intake by inhaling lower volumes of smoke when smoking strong joints, but this does not fully compensate for the higher cannabis doses per joint when using strong cannabis,” the researchers wrote in the journal. “Thus, users of more potent cannabis are generally exposed to more delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Smoking behavior appears to be a stronger predictor for cannabis dependence severity than monthly delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol dose.”
Essentially, the researchers say that although smokers of strong cannabis alter their smoking behavior, it is not enough to compensate for the higher dose of THC, adding weight to the “potent pot myth.”

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

For centuries, the health benefits of ingesting dark chocolate have been lauded. Why, however, has remained a mystery, until now. A new study by Louisiana State University (LSU) researchers, whose findings were reported at this week’s 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, reveals that certain bacteria in the stomach eat the chocolate and ferment it into anti-inflammatory compounds that are good for the heart.

“We found that there are two kinds of microbes in the gut: the ‘good’ ones and the ‘bad’ ones,” explained Maria Moore, an undergraduate student at LSU.

“The good microbes, such as Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria, feast on chocolate,” she said. “When you eat dark chocolate, they grow and ferment it, producing compounds that are anti-inflammatory.” The other bacteria in the gut — including E. coli and Clostridia — are associated with inflammation and can cause gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation.

“When these compounds are absorbed by the body, they lessen the inflammation of cardiovascular tissue, reducing the long-term risk of stroke,” said John Finley, Ph.D., who led the work. This study is the first to investigate the effects of dark chocolate on the various species of bacteria in the stomach, according to Finley.

Three cocoa powders were tested by the team using a model digestive tract. This model was composed of a series of modified test tubes to simulate normal digestion. They then subjected the non-digestible materials to anaerobic fermentation using human fecal bacteria

Containing several polyphenolic, or antioxidant, compounds such as catechin and epicatechin, cocoa powder also has a small amount of dietary fiber. In the stomach, both compounds are poorly digested and absorbed, but when they reach the colon, the desirable microbes take over.

“In our study we found that the fiber is fermented and the large polyphenolic polymers are metabolized to smaller molecules, which are more easily absorbed. These smaller polymers exhibit anti-inflammatory activity,” Finley said.

The combination of cocoa’s fiber with prebiotics is likely to improve a person’s overall health, said Finley, along with helping to convert polyphenolics in the stomach into anti-inflammatory compounds.

“When you ingest prebiotics, the beneficial gut microbial population increases and outcompetes any undesirable microbes in the gut, like those that cause stomach problems,” he added.

Foods such as raw garlic and whole wheat flour are undigestible by humans, but they contain prebiotics, or types of carbohydrates, that the good bacteria in your gut like to eat. Prebiotics can also be found in dietary supplements.

When chocolate is combined with solid fruits such as pomegranates and acai, even more health benefits can be obtained. Finley said that the next step could be for industry to do just that.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

Computers have been largely unable to duplicate a person’s ability to tune into a single voice, even in the midst of background noise, but new research into the biological mechanisms of the human ear could soon change that.

According to researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the ear’s selective hearing is due to the evolution of the tectorial membrane, a tiny membrane located inside the inner ear. The viscosity of this membrane, the study authors said, is reliant upon the size and distribution of nanopores.

These nanopores are only a few tens of nanometers wide, they explain, and this feature helps provide the mechanical filtering that allows men and women to sort through various types of sound. This research, which appears in the March 18 edition of the Biophysical Journal, could ultimately lead to improved machine hearing capabilities, as well as better hearing aids.

In the study, MIT graduate student Jonathan Sellon and his colleagues examined the tectorial membrane and its role in helping the human ear consistently outperform traditional speech-recognition technologies. While it had long been assumed that this was linked to a person’s ability of resolving frequency, recent research by the MIT team indicates that this is not necessarily the case.

Actually, Sellon, electrical engineering professor Dennis Freeman and their associates have found that some individuals who have genetic defects in their tectorial membranes are more sensitive to frequency variations – and as a result, their hearing is actually worse.

They discovered a tradeoff between the ability to resolve different frequencies and the length that it takes to actually do so. As a result, the improved frequency discrimination is not fast enough to actually be useful in a real-world situation that requires sound selectivity, the institute explained in a statement Tuesday.

Previously, the MIT team has demonstrated that the tectorial membrane is instrumental in sound discrimination by carrying waves that stimulate a certain type of sensory receptor. This is vital in the process of deciphering a cacophony of sounds, but it occurs so quickly that neural processes are unable to keep up with the pace.

Thus, through evolution, nature has crafted what Freeman describes as an extremely effective electromechanical system capable to equaling the speed of those sound waves. The new study helps explain how the tectonic membrane’s structure is the determining factor in its ability to filter sound in a noisy environment.

They authors analyzed two genetic variants that cause nanopores in the membrane to be larger or smaller than usual. The pore size impacts the membrane’s viscosity and its sensitivity to various different frequencies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF) and Wellcome Trust-funded research uncovered.

“The tectorial membrane is spongelike, riddled with tiny pores. By studying how its viscosity varies with pore size, the team was able to determine that the typical pore size observed in mice – about 40 nanometers across – represents an optimal size for combining frequency discrimination with overall sensitivity,” the institute said.

“Pores that are larger or smaller impair hearing,” it added. “The new findings show that fluid viscosity and pores are actually essential to its performance. Changing the sizes of tectorial membrane nanopores, via biochemical manipulation or other means, can provide unique ways to alter hearing sensitivity and frequency discrimination.”

Image 2 (below): This optical microscope image depicts wave motion in a cross-section of the tectorial membrane, part of the inner ear. This membrane is a microscale gel, smaller in width than a single human hair, and it plays a key role in stimulating sensory receptors of the inner ear. Waves traveling on this membrane control our ability to separate sounds of varying pitch and intensity. Credit: MIT’s Micromechanics Group

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Archaeologists, publishing a paper in PLOS ONE on Monday, say that they have discovered a 3,000 year-old human skeleton who had metastatic cancer.

The skeleton discovered in a tomb in modern Sudan is the oldest complete example of a human with metastatic cancer. The researchers say this discovery could help to explore underlying causes of cancer in ancient populations and provide insights into the evolution of cancer in the past.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in modern society, but little evidence has been uncovered from the archaeological record when compared to other pathological conditions. This lack of evidence has led some to conclude that the disease is mainly a product of modern living and increased longevity. However, the latest findings suggest that cancer is not only a modern disease, but was present in the Nile Valley in 1200BC.

“Very little is known about the antiquity, epidemiology and evolution of cancer in past human populations apart from some textual references and a small number of skeletons with signs of cancer,” Michaela Binder, lead author of the paper and a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, said in a statement. “Insights gained from archaeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases.”

The skeleton is an adult male that was between 25 and 35 years-old when he died. The archaeologists discovered him at the site of Amara West in northern Sudan, situated on the Nile, or 450 miles downstream of Khartoum. The skeleton was buried on his back within a painted wooden coffin.

The team from Durham University and the British Museum performed an analysis on the skeleton to reveal evidence of metastatic carcinoma from a malignant soft-tissue tumor spread across large areas of the body.

“Our analysis showed that the shape of the small lesions on the bones can only have been caused by a soft tissue cancer even though the exact origin is impossible to determine through the bones alone,” Binder said.

There has only been one convincing and two tentative examples of metastatic cancer predating the 1st millennium BC. However, because the remains were discovered from the early 20th century excavations only the skulls were retained.

The analyses show cancer metastases on the collar bones, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thigh bones. The cause of the cancer can only be speculated, but the researchers say it could be due to environmental carcinogens like smoke from wood fires or from infectious diseases caused by parasites.

“Through taking an evolutionary approach to cancer, information from ancient human remains may prove a vital element in finding ways to address one of the world’s major health problems,” Binder said.

Pollock Communications

The soluble fiber in oats helps lower total and LDL cholesterol, but scientists now say that the cardiovascular health benefits of oats goes beyond fiber

Eleven top scientists from around the globe presented the latest findings on the powerful compounds found in oats in a scientific session titled, Physicochemical Properties and Biological Functionality of Oats, at the 247th Annual Conference of the American Chemical Society in Dallas, TX. Scientists described research on the diverse health benefits of oats and emphasized the growing evidence that the type of phenolic compound avenanthramide (AVE) – found only in oats – may possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-itch and anti-cancer properties. The culmination of the studies suggests that oat AVEs may play an important role in protecting the heart.

Eating whole grains is consistently associated with a reduced risk of chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease. Most of the benefits have been attributed to the relatively high fiber, vitamin, mineral and phytochemical content of whole grains. Notably, the soluble fiber beta-glucan found in oats has been recognized for its ability to lower both total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

“While the data to support the importance of oat beta-glucan remains, these studies reveal that the heart health benefit of eating oats may go beyond fiber,” explains the session’s presiding co-officer, Dr. Shengmin Sang of the Center for Excellence in Post-Harvest Technologies at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. “As the scientific investigators dig deeper, we have discovered that the bioactive compounds found in oats – AVEs – may provide additional cardio-protective benefits.”

Oat AVEs and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

New research shows that oat AVEs may be partly responsible for the positive association between oats and heart health. Oliver Chen, Ph.D., of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, presented mechanistic data that demonstrated that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of AVEs likely contribute to the atheroprotection of oats.

Similarly, Mohsen Meydani, Ph.D., from the Vascular Biology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, provided evidence that oat AVEs suppress the production of inflammatory cytokines associated with fatty streak formation in the arteries. In addition, oat AVEs appear to repress the process associated with the development of atherosclerosis.

“On behalf of the Quaker Oats Center of Excellence, we are inspired by the investigations in oats agriculture, processing and health research presented at the American Chemical Society’s Scientific Sessions,” comments YiFang Chu, Ph.D., PepsiCo R&D Nutrition. “Along with all of the oats fans out there, we value the significant contribution of scientific collaboration to help expand the thinking behind oats.”

Also on the program were scientists from Tufts University; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; PepsiCo Inc. R&D; the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health in Zurich, Switzerland; the University of Minnesota; and Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA. Their presentations reviewed their findings on the influence of the processing of oats on the glycemic response and bioactive composition, measuring the functionality of oat beta-glucan, the antioxidant potential of oat beta-glucan, the benefits of eating whole grains on chronic disease, and how oats may improve glucose control and lipid metabolism. This high-level scientific session revealed the far-reaching impact this simple grain plays in health promotion and disease prevention.

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Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Researchers are asking 18,000 men and women around the nation to take part in a study to see if chocolate can help prevent heart attacks and strokes, according to the Associated Press.
Scientists have created chocolate pills that are packed full of nutrients but without the sugar and fat. The research will be the first large-scale study to test cocoa flavanols, which previous studies have shown improved blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Participants in the study will receive either placebos or cocoa flavanol pills for four years. The flavanol capsules will have no taste, so neither the participants or researchers will know whether they are taking a placebo or flavanol pill.
“Cocoa flavanols and multivitamins are two of the most promising and exciting nutritional interventions available, and this new randomized trial is the natural next step in advancing our understanding of their potential benefits,” JoAnn Manson, MD, chief of the division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a statement. “In smaller studies, cocoa flavanols have been linked to improvements in intermediate risk factors for heart disease, such as reductions in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improvements in the body’s sensitivity to insulin, and improved ability of blood vessels to dilate.”
Researchers will also be using the study to test multivitamins that could help prevent cancer. While previous studies have shown there is a benefit to these multivitamins in older healthy men, the team wants to test this on a broader population.
Howard Sesso, who will co-lead the trial alongside Manson, said the exact mechanisms behind multivitamins that leads to lower cancer risks remains unclear, but could be due to individual and joint effects of more than 20 vitamins and minerals.
“This supplement has shown favorable results in research to date, but the proposed randomized trial is needed to provide conclusive evidence,” Sesso, who is also in the division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a statement.
Women who are going to participate in the study are being pulled from a large nation-wide Women’s Health Initiative, while men are being recruited from other large population-based studies.
According to the researchers, Mars Incorporated will be one of the financial providers for the study, along with the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of National Institutes of Health.
“This collaboration represents the best of a public-private partnership in the interest of advancing science and public health. It’s exciting to be at this turning point in scientific discovery where we have the potential to achieve benefits for some of our most significant health challenges today,” Harold Schmitz, Ph.D, Chief Science Officer at Mars, Incorporated, said in a statement.

American Chemical Society

Adjusting the calcium level and acidity could be the key to developing new better-tasting, more eye-appealing and creamier reduced-fat sauces, desserts and salad dressings that could be on the market soon, researchers reported here today.

To date, a major problem with removing fat from these accompaniments is that in addition to reducing calories, it can negatively affect the flavor, appearance and texture, they said. But based on recent research it may not be too long before new, improved, lower-fat foods appear in grocery stores, the researchers predicted. Their study was part of the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

The meeting, attended by thousands of scientists, features more than 10,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics. Being held at the Dallas Convention Center and area hotels, it continues through Thursday.

In the laboratory study, the team reduced the fat content and, therefore, calories in a model white sauce from 10 percent to 2 percent without sacrificing the look and feel of the food. “By controlling pH and calcium content, we are able to regulate the interactions among fat droplets,” said Bicheng Wu, a graduate student. “This makes them stick together and form flocs, or clumps. We believe the water trapped inside these flocs makes the sauce seem fattier than it really is and preserves the look, feel and flavor.”

Wu explained that fat plays various roles in determining the overall sensory attributes of food products. “It carries flavors, so cutting the fat content lessens the intensity of the flavor. The appearance, meaning the opacity or lightness, of a food mixture largely depends on light scattering by fat droplets, so high fat content gives a milky appearance to a sauce or dressing.” She also said that high fat content is also related to the thick, smooth and creamy feel in your mouth of many products, like pudding, due to the effect of fat droplets on how the liquid flows.

Yet another problem with cutting the fat content is that it doesn’t make people feel as full, said D. Julian McClements, Ph.D., who is the leader of the University of Massachusetts Amherst research team that conducted the study. “Due to the high calorie count in fat and how the body digests it, fat also affects the feeling of satiety.”

Despite the daunting task, the group has had success, according to Wu. “Often we see people reacting to the texture of our low-fat sauce sample even before they taste it,” she said. “They say, ‘Wow! No way it’s only 2 percent fat. It looks like custard! Can I try it?”‘

McClements said that the team soon plans extensive taste and smell tests. “Then we will be able to adjust the composition and incorporate other seasoning ingredients into the foods,” he explained. “Since this fat reduction is easy for us now, and the fact that our new products contain healthy ingredients that can be used in a wide range of products means there’s a great potential to reach the market in the near future.”

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American Chemical Society

A sweetener created from the plant used to make tequila could lower blood glucose levels for the 26 million Americans and others worldwide who have type 2 diabetes and help them and the obese lose weight, researchers said here today.

The main reason it could be valuable, they explained, is that agavins, a natural form of sugar found in the agave plant, are non-digestible and can act as a dietary fiber, so they would not raise blood glucose. Their report was part of the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society.

The meeting, attended by thousands of scientists, features more than 10,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics. Being held at the Dallas Convention Center and area hotels, it continues through Thursday.

“We have found that since agavins reduce glucose levels and increase GLP-1, they also increase the amount of insulin,” said Mercedes G. López, Ph.D. GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) is a hormone that slows the stomach from emptying, thereby stimulating production of insulin. She added, “Agavins are not expensive and they have no known side effects, except for those few people who cannot tolerate them.” In addition, agavins, like other fructans, which are made of the sugar fructose, are the best sugars to help support growth of healthful microbes in the mouth and intestines, she said.

López, who is with Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados, Biotechnology and Biochemistry Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, also noted that agavins can help people feel fuller, which could help them eat less.

Agavins contain fructoses, which begs the question: Are agavins like high-fructose corn syrup, a processed sweetener that has gotten a lot of bad press recently? López pointed out that, indeed, high-fructose corn syrup is loaded with fructose sugars and, therefore, can raise blood sugar levels. But agavins are fructans, which are fructoses linked together in long, branched chains. The human body can’t use them in that configuration, so they don’t affect blood sugar, she explained. Agavins also sometimes get confused with agave nectar or agave syrup, which appears on many health-food store shelves. These products contain fructans that have been broken down into individual fructoses, so they are much more similar to high-fructose corn syrup.

Also, she and her team said agavins are better than artificial sweeteners, which are absorbed by the body and can cause side effects, like headaches. “One slight downside, however, is that agavins are not quite as sweet as their artificial counterparts,” she said.

Of course, the agave’s claim to fame is as the plant from which tequila is made. López explained that agavins are the only carbohydrates used to produce the drink. All ethanol in tequila comes from the fermentation of glucose and fructose generated after agave pines are cooked. But because the agavins are converted to ethanol, agavins are not found in the finished product.

López said that in the study, her team fed a group of mice a standard diet and added agavins to their daily water. They weighed the mice daily and checked their glucose blood levels weekly. Most mice that drank agavins ate less, lost weight and their blood glucose levels decreased when compared to other sweeteners such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, agave syrup and aspartame.

“This study represents the first attempt to evaluate agavins as sweeteners in spite of their lower sweetness compared to sugar,” she said.

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Institute of Food Technologists
The market for gluten-free foods with functional properties is growing immensely across virtually all food categories on a global level. The need to replace wheat proteins, fibers, and minerals is very important in order to provide a better selection and more nutritious food for consumers that belong to this segment of the population. At the same time, the use of by-products of the food processing industry as a source of functional ingredients such as antioxidants, phenols, fibers and proteins is on the rise, which supports global sustainability.
A team of food scientists from University of Novi Sad in Serbia and Guelph Food Research Centre in Canada found that hemp flour, a by-product of cold-pressed hemp oil, in combination with decaffeinated green tea leaves could be used to develop a gluten-free snack cracker with functional properties. The study is in the current issue of Journal of Food Science published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).
Hemp flour, as a by-product of cold-pressing oil process, is rich in proteins, fibers, phytochemicals, minerals, omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids, and therefore a very valuable ingredient to use for food production. In terms of amino acid composition, hempseed proteins are comparable to the egg white and soy protein. Green tea leaves contain compounds that have been shown to have health benefits including cancer prevention of many types as well as decreasing LDL cholesterol levels.
The findings of this study, where hemp flour and decaffeinated green tea leaves were incorporated into crackers, suggest that consumers may benefit from consuming these gluten-free crackers with superior nutritional qualities in terms of high protein, crude fibers, minerals and essential fatty acids content and antioxidant properties.
Read the Journal of Food Science abstract here.
About IFT
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Institute of Food Technologists. Since its founding in 1939, IFT has been committed to advancing the science of food, both today and tomorrow. Our non-profit scientific society—more than 18,000 members from more than 100 countries—brings together food scientists, technologists and related professionals from academia, government and industry. For more information, please visit ift.org.

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A new study from George Washington University (GW) reports dramatic increases in opioid analgesic prescriptions, such as Percocet, Vicodin, oxycodone and Dilaudid, during emergency room visits in the US from 2001 to 2010. These findings, reported in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, were not explained by higher visit rates for painful conditions. The visit rates only rose moderately during the study period.
“This trend is especially concerning given dramatic increases in opioid-related overdoses and fatalities in recent years,” said Maryann Mazer-Amirshahi, M.D., adjunct instructor of emergency medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS). “Using prescription opioids to treat acute painful conditions in emergency departments and hospitals might do more harm than good, as they can potentially lead to misuse and addiction. More needs to be done to monitor opioid prescriptions in emergency departments — having recommended standard approaches may be a good starting point.”
The research team found that the percentage of overall emergency department visits where an opioid analgesic was prescribed increased from 20.8 percent to 31 percent during the study period of 2001 to 2010. Prescription rates for some opioids rose dramatically. For example, Dilaudid (one of the most potent and addictive medications) rose to 668.2 percent. The percent of visits for painful conditions, however, only rose 4 percent: from 47.1 percent in 2001 to 51.1 percent in 2010.
“Emergency department providers are often caught in a difficult position because some have their pay incentivized based on how patients report their satisfaction with their experience. The intention is always to provide appropriate pain relief, but many patients have come to expect opioids,” said Jesse Pines, M.D., director of the Office of Clinical Practice Innovation at GW SMHS. “When patients in pain want opioids, but don’t get them — which is common — they may report a poor experience. We need to carefully consider how to balance these issues when it comes to national policy, particularly local and national payment policies, in this country.”
The researchers used data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to explore which medications, reasons for visiting the emergency room, and demographic groups might explain this change in prescribing rates. Some of the key findings of this ten year study:
– Prescribing rates increased across all age groups, including those over 65 years of age.
– Opioid use increased for both Caucasians and African Americans. However, African Americans were consistently prescribed fewer opioid analgesics than Caucasians.
– In all categories of payer, there were significant increases.
– The Midwest states saw the largest proportional increase. Western states had the highest overall frequency of opioid prescription. The lowest rates of use were found in the Northeast states.
– Urban emergency departments and nonprofit hospitals more commonly prescribed opioids than other institutions.
– All opioid analgesic increased, except codeine and meperidine.
– Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and morphine saw the highest relative increases overall, from 2005-2010, hydromorphone and oxycodone had the greatest relative increases.

Rachel Champeau, UCLA

It has been more than 10 years since the clinical battle began with community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and doctors are still grappling with how to diagnose, treat and prevent this virulent form of staph infection, which is immune to many antibiotics.

As MRSA cases have increased dramatically over the decade, so have the number of skin abscesses — generally pus-filled boils or pimples with discharge — that characterize these infections. Now, researchers from UCLA have issued updated guidelines outlining the best ways to treat and manage these abscesses.

The first cases of MRSA were relatively mild and primarily affected high-risk patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities. But beginning in the early 2000s, doctors identified a new, highly contagious and hard-to-treat strain known as “community-acquired” MRSA, which had spread to the general public. This more virulent form of the infection can be dangerous and in severe cases cause necrotizing pneumonia, fasciitis and sepsis.

One of the first reports that MRSA infections would become epidemic was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006 by Dr. Gregory Moran, Dr. David A. Talan and colleagues at Olive View–UCLA Medical Center.

Their research showed that community-associated MRSA had become the most common cause of skin infection among patients presenting at emergency departments and other settings in the US.

In a new report published March 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine, Talan and Dr. Adam J. Singer of the emergency medicine department at Stony Brook University in New York present updated “best practice” guidelines for managing the skin abscesses associated with community-acquired MRSA.

“MRSA is not going away, so we need to fine-tune ways to treat it,” said Talan, a professor in the division of infectious diseases and chief of the department of emergency medicine at Olive View–UCLA Medical Center. “We hope the information will help guide doctors as to the best ways to address these infection-related skin abscesses.”

For the article, Talan and Singer, both of whom are on the front lines of treating MRSA, focused on abscesses that occur on the trunk of the body and the extremities, like the arms and legs, which are often treated by general practitioners or emergency room physicians. An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated within tissue because of the inflammatory process in response infections like MRSA.

The doctors reviewed prior studies and provided their expert opinions. Highlights of their clinical update include an emphasis on new diagnostic techniques such as ultrasound, guidance for doctors on the most effective antibiotics, and an overview of abscess-draining techniques that are less invasive, painful and disfiguring than conventional methods.

Diagnosing and treating abscesses

While in most cases MRSA diagnosis and abscess drainage is straightforward, the authors note that technologies like ultrasound can enhance diagnostic accuracy for abscesses located deep in the lower levels of the skin. Ultrasound, which is now available in more emergency departments and hospitals, can also help ensure that an abscess has been adequately drained.

Still, most abscesses can be drained with a single small incision, the authors say. In their paper, they discuss techniques for closing drainage incisions and note that the conventional method of packing a wound with sterile gauze to help absorb excess fluid may not always be necessary.

MRSA and the use of antibiotics

Talan and Singer concur with the Infectious Diseases Society of America that when simply draining an abscess is not enough to address a community-acquired MRSA infection, preferred antibiotics include trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, doxycycline, minocylcine and clindamycin.

They note that antibiotic treatment is especially helpful for patients who have risk factors like recurrent infection, extensive or systemic disease, rapid disease progression, a suppressed immune system, or who are either very young or very old.

But growing antibiotic resistance may also impact treatment, they warn, noting that MRSA has also become resistant to clindamycin and tetracyclines in some communities. The authors encourage doctors to be aware of local susceptibility patterns.

“Even with optimal treatments, there is still a relatively high failure rate in treating these infections, so good patient education on the signs to watch for and availability of close medical follow-up is always recommended,” Talan said.

The update also provides doctors with strategies to prevent new infections in some patients who are burdened with frequent recurrences.

Talan and his team are currently working on a large clinical trial that will further investigate optimal antibiotic treatment for MRSA skin infections.

“If you see a skin infection beginning, you should see your doctor right away so that a little problem does not become a bigger one and more difficult to treat,” he said.

Preventing MRSA from spreading

Because MRSA and other types of skin infections can be easily transmitted between people, Talan offers the following prevention guidance:

• People with skin infections should be careful to keep lesions covered with a dressing or band aid and wash their hands thoroughly after changing the bandage. Place bandages in the trash.
• Avoid sharing personal items like towels, razors or brushes with people who have an active skin infection.

No outside funding was used for the study.

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Rebekah Eliason for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A new study led by the Mayo Clinic has found big bellies carry larger consequences than difficulty squeezing into pants. Even with a healthy body mass index (BMI), carrying large amounts of weight around the middle is detrimental to health.

According to the study, both men and women with a large waist circumference were at higher risk of dying younger. After accounting for body mass index, they were also more likely to die from heart disease, respiratory problems and cancer along with smoking, alcohol use and physical activity.

By pooling data from eleven different cohort studies, researchers were able to use information from more than 600,000 participants around the world. They discovered that when men had a waist size of 43 inches or more in circumference, they had a 50 percent greater mortality risk then men who had waists smaller than 35 inches. After the age of 40, this means there is approximately a three year lower life expectancy for men with larger waists. For women, those with a waist circumference of 37 or more had an 80 percent greater mortality rate than women who had a waist size of 27 inches or less. This lowers the life expectancy approximately five years after the age of forty.

For every 2 inches of waist circumference, the risk of death increased linearly by about seven percent in men and nine percent in women. Because risk increased across the spectrum, there is not one ideal “cutpoint” for waist circumference.

Interestingly, the researchers discovered that an elevated mortality risk that was correlated to increasing waist circumferences was true for all level of BMI including normal BMI levels. James Cerhan, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo clinic epidemiologist, noted that the large size of the pooled study allowed researchers to clearly show the independent contribution of waist circumference after adjusting for BMI.

“BMI is not a perfect measure,” says Dr. Cerhan. “It doesn’t discriminate lean mass from fat mass, and it also doesn’t say anything about where your weight is located. We worry about that because extra fat in your belly has a metabolic profile that is associated with diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.”

Dr. Cerhan advised that physicians evaluate both BMI and waist circumference when performing risk assessment for obesity-related premature mortality.

“The primary goal should be preventing both a high BMI and a large waist circumference,” Dr. Cerhan says. “For those patients who have a large waist, trimming down even a few inches — through exercise and diet — could have important health benefits.”

This study was published in the March edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.