Jason Pierce, MSN, MBA, RN for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Killing an estimated 443,000 people each year in the US, smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 68 percent of all adult smokers in the United States want to quit smoking completely, and some 23.7 million adults tried to quit in 2010. The nicotine found in cigarettes, however, can be as addictive as heroin or cocaine. Because of this many smokers who try to quit relapse multiple times before quitting for good.

Newly published research from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health has identified one trigger that may increase the likelihood of relapse. According to Michael Businelle, Ph.D., assistant professor at The University of Texas School of Public Health: “Identification of situations that increase the risk for relapse will aid in the development of novel interventions that can address these situations in the moment of occurrence.”

Businelle and colleagues conducted research into the relationship between the urge to smoke and the use of alcohol in adults attempting to quit smoking. Existing research suggests that consumption of alcohol increases smoking and the urge to smoke. The UTHealth study examines the interaction between the urge to smoke and alcohol consumption throughout the course of a day in the life of someone trying to quit smoking.

The researchers collected data from 302 individuals attempting to quit smoking. The participants were all females between the ages of 18 and 70, and living in Seattle between 1999 and 2002. Female participants were chosen because studies have suggested that women have an even greater difficulty quitting cigarettes than men.

The participants kept journals, recorded at randomly assigned times each day, describing their urges to smoke. In addition, the participant completed an assessment each time they felt the urge to smoke.

On days when alcohol was consumed the subjects reported higher and more volatile urges to smoke. The research also showed that alcohol consumption was more likely to occur on days when the subjects woke up with higher urges to smoke, which researchers say may indicate that alcohol is being used as a coping mechanism to avoid smoking.

“Interestingly, these higher, more volatile smoking urges were reported before the individual actually began drinking, suggesting that alcohol consumption may have been in response to smoking urges rather than vice versa” Businelle said.

These new findings suggest a cycle where a greater urge to smoke leads to drinking alcohol, which in turn escalates the urge to smoke. Such a cycle would likely increase the risk of relapse. If this is true then designing interventions that replace alcohol use with other coping mechanisms may be helpful at preventing relapse in the future.

Jason Pierce, MSN, MBA, RN for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Research shows that training in mindfulness meditation techniques can decrease chronic pain and improve depression. A paper recently published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience by scientists at Brown University may shed light on the physiological reason why. The study proposes that training in mindfulness meditation enhances control over how the brain processes and filters sensations and memories.

Training in mindfulness techniques begins by focusing attention on breathing patterns and the body´s sensory input. Beginners are taught to return their focus to the sensation of breathing whenever their mind begins to wander. The researchers claim that it is this repeated localized focus on sensory input that enhances control over the portion of the brain where sensations from various body parts are received.

In essence, training in mindfulness allows meditators to control what body sensations they pay attention to, and to tune out input related to pain and discomfort. The meditator learns to regulate attention away from negative physical sensations such as chronic pain.

“We think we´re the first group to propose an underlying neurophysiological mechanism that directly links the actual practice of mindful awareness of breath and body sensations to the kinds of cognitive and emotional benefits that mindfulness confers,” said lead author Catherine Kerr, assistant professor (research) of family medicine at the Alpert Medical School and director of translational neuroscience for the Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown.

Experiments previously published by Kerr and neuroscientist co-authors Stephanie Jones and Christopher Moore use magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain imaging technology to map brain waves, called alpha rhythms, associated with sensory input. The ability to regulate these alpha rhythms was more pronounced in subjects with standardized mindfulness training.

In another previously published experiment, they showed that subjects who focused attention to sensations in their left hand had a change in alpha rhythms suggesting that the brain was no longer filtering out those sensations. When the subjects shifted focus away from the left hand the filtering effect returned.

In 2011 the researchers also conducted experiments using subjects randomly assigned to eight weeks of mindfulness training and a control group of subjects with no training. The alpha rhythms of the subjects trained in mindfulness suggested an ability to shift focus quicker and to more effectively filter sensory stimulation.

In the newly published paper the authors propose that chronic pain patients trained in the mindfulness technique of focusing on and then focusing away from pain should demonstrate similar improvements in alpha rhythms control. “By this process of repeatedly engaging and disengaging alpha dynamics across the body map, according to our alpha theory, subjects are re-learning the process of directly modulating localized alpha rhythms,” they wrote. “We hypothesize that chronic pain patients trained in mindfulness will show increased ability to modulate alpha in an anticipatory tactile attention paradigm similar to that used in [the 2011 study].”

In addition to Kerr, Jones, and Moore, the paper´s other authors are Matthew Sacchet of Stanford University and Sara Lazar of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

At the onset of a cold, many people will begin stockpiling their bodies with loads of vitamin C to help fight off these pesky viruses more quickly. Even though it´s long been commonly understood vitamin C can be used to treat and even prevent the common cold, there´s yet to be any hard science to support this.

Now, a new study has found the vitamin can actually cut the occurrence of the common cold in half, but only in those who often find themselves in times of short-term, heavy physical stress.

Digging deeper into the notion vitamin C is beneficial when fighting a cold, Harri Hemilä from the Department of Public Health at the University of Helsinki and Elizabeth Chalker from Curtin, ACT in Australia ran a series of tests on three groups of active people: Marathon runners, Swiss school children in a skiing camp and Canadian soldiers performing winter exercises.

Hemilä and Chalker found while taking vitamin C every day has little to no effect on the general public, those who aren´t strangers to some physical stress stand to benefit greatly from a regimen of vitamin C.

“Regular ingestion of vitamin C had no effect on common cold incidence in the ordinary population, based on 29 trial comparisons involving 11,306 participants,” write the authors in their study.

“However, regular supplementation had a modest but consistent effect in reducing the duration of common cold symptoms, which is based on 31 study comparisons with 9745 common cold episodes. In five trials with 598 participants exposed to short periods of extreme physical stress (including marathon runners and skiers) vitamin C halved the common cold risk.”

In another recent study on the effects of vitamin C, researchers found people were affected differently by these daily doses depending on their age and gender. For instance, when given to a team of teenaged competitive swimmers, the vitamin cut the duration of colds in half, but only for the boys. The girls in the swim team were not affected at all by their daily doses of the vitamin.

Other studies have been conducted to test the common knowledge taking the vitamin at the onset of a cold shortens its duration. According to these studies, those adults who took up to 8 grams of vitamin C a day during their cold reported shorter down-time from their sickness.

This study also found those adults who took daily, 1 gram doses of the vitamin had an eight percent reduction in the duration of their cold. Children stood to benefit more from this daily dose, with an estimated 18 percent reduction in down time from a cold.

Yet, while this new study suggests those who are inclined to put themselves through periods of high physical stress will benefit more from a regimen of vitamin C, the authors suggest further research should be conducted. Furthermore, the authors noted a difference between a daily, lower dosage of vitamin C and taking a larger dose at the onset of a cold.

Just as a cold affects different people in different ways, so too does a therapeutic dose of vitamin C. Therefore, the authors recommend common cold patients to conduct tests on themselves to determine if the vitamin is beneficial to them.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

A team of investigators from McMaster University and the University of Rochester recently conducted a study on differential parenting and discovered that this behavior not only impacted the child who receives less attention, but other children in the family as well.

According to the researchers, differential parenting — more commonly known as simply ℠playing favorites´ — occurs when parents shows more positive feedback to one child and more negative feedback to another. The study was conducted over a four-year period and looked at the broader impact of differential parenting on the whole family. The findings of the study were recently published in the journal Child Development.

“Past studies have looked at the effects of differential parenting on the children who get more negative feedback, but our study focused on this as a dynamic operating at two levels of the family system: one that affects all children in the family as well as being specific to the child at the receiving end of the negativity,” said the study´s lead researcher Jennifer M. Jenkins, the Atkinson Chair of Early Child Development and Education at the University of Toronto.

Nearly 400 Canadian families with a maximum of four children participated in the study. The research team collected data on children between the ages of two and five using self-reported incidents by mothers as well as observations by researchers who observed and recorded parent-child interactions at the families´ homes. Some of these parent-child interactions included the ways children played without toys or the methods that mothers used to tell stories to their kids.

The researchers hypothesized that cumulative risks from differential parenting can result in children being at a higher risk of developing mental health issues, which might include aggressive behavior, problems with emotional development and attention-deficit disorders. The results of the study confirmed their hunch.

Their data showed that children who were given more negative treatment experienced more attention and emotional problems than their siblings who received more positive treatment. However, they also found that even the children who received more positive treatment were at a higher risk of developing these mental health issues compared to children from families in which all children were treated equally.

The team of investigators also utilized special statistical techniques to look at the relationship between all family members and developed a cumulative risk index to determine the number of present or past stress factors in each mother´s life, including economic hardships, abuse, education level, history of depression or single parenting.

The researchers found that mothers who experienced more of these risk factors were significantly more likely to engage in differential parenting than mothers who experienced fewer or none of these risk factors. In short, mothers who were under more emotional and financial stress were more likely to treat their children unequally.

Outside experts reviewing the study have pointed out that these risk factors are often outside of the parent´s control.

“While all parents know that it’s best to avoid comparing siblings to each other, and to strive for equity in terms of attention, optimal parenting of this sort is incredibly difficult when faced with multiple risk factors, such as poverty, mental illness, and a history of adverse childhood experiences,” Dr. Rahil Briggs, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told ABC News.

“While none of this surprises me, it further supports the claim that we must support families, especially those families with young children, to help ameliorate some of these impacts of risk,” said Briggs, who was not affiliated with the study.

“In all likelihood, this occurred because differential parenting sets up a dynamic that is very divisive,” concluded Jenkins.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

With age, comes wisdom, and even the wisest people in the world know there is always more to learn, even from a three-year-old.

Researchers wrote in the journal Developmental Psychology that three-year-olds will override instructions from an adult if they “know better.”

Fifty eight children took part in the study at a Yale University laboratory. During their study, scientists found that these toddlers were willing to ignore an adult’s specific request for an item they deemed unhelpful, and went out of their way to bring something more useful to the adult.

“In our experiments, most 3-year-olds were able to recognize that adults weren’t making the best decisions and decided to be helpful in another way,” said co-author Kristina R. Olson, PhD, of Yale University. “Furthermore, we found that very young children are motivated to intervene when others are going about things in the wrong way, even when they are not prompted to do so.”

Most of the experiments involved four pairs of matched functional and dysfunctional objects, including a real phone, a toy phone, a functional glass, a cracked glass, a hammer, a rubber toy hammer, a working marker, and a dried-up marker.

In one experiment, an adult asked a child to help out with a simple task, like writing a note or making a phone call. However, the experiment was set up to fail, with adults using a dried-up marker or a toy phone. The researchers found that the majority of children ignored the request for the busted item, but instead brought the adult something functional to use, such as a working marker or a real phone.

Also, it’s not that children are all just brats, because nearly all the children who were asked to bring over a helpful object obeyed the wishes of the adult. When an object, useful or not, was asked to be thrown in the trash, the toddlers obeyed.

According to the researchers, the child did not discriminate between functional and non-functioning articles, because as long as the three-year-old knew it would help the adult complete the task, they brought it. If an adult asked for the toy phone so they could hold down some papers, the majority of the children brought over the toy phone.

“It appears very young children can recognize that helping someone can sometimes mean paying attention to their ultimate goal rather than their specific request,” said Olson. “This work illustrates that even within the first few years of life, children have a remarkably sophisticated understanding of helping.”

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

With recent findings stating obese individuals may have a deficiency in vitamin D levels, more people may be inclined to take a daily supplement to ensure they are getting the proper amount in their system. However, a new study has found many people may not even be getting the recommended amount of that sunshine vitamin when they do take a daily tablet.

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (KPCHR) in Portland, Oregon today released findings vitamin D sold in stores contain anywhere from 9 — 140 percent of the doses listed on the supplement´s label. Though none of the pills studied were likely to be dangerous, many contained far too little of the vitamin to effectively treat people with a deficiency, the researchers said.

Publishing their findings in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the team tested 55 bottles of vitamin D3 (the most often recommended type) from 12 different over-the-counter (OTC) brands. While the disparities found in each brand were alarming, it was more shocking to find there was also a variation among different pills in the same bottle.

“We were surprised by the variation in potency among these vitamin D pills,” said Erin S. LeBlanc, MD, MPH, lead author and investigator of the study from KPCHR. “The biggest worry is for someone who has low levels of vitamin D in their blood. If they are consistently taking a supplement with little vitamin D in it, they could face health risks.”

Even more embarrassingly, pills from compounders were nearly as variable as the OTC brands, varying from 23 — 146 percent of the expected dose.

This finding has serious implications for many who rely on daily vitamin D supplements for their health. With the flu season in full swing, health experts are recommending people increase their vitamin D intake as it helps boost cold and flu prevention and helps those who do get sick to recover faster. And other research has shown low levels of vitamin D in the blood are linked to breast, colorectal and other cancers, heart disease, and other illnesses. And not to be forgotten, the sunshine vitamin also promotes bone health and prevents osteoporosis.

Vitamin D deficiency is much more common than most people think; as many as 50 percent of the US population could be D-deficient, according to past research. And a previous study by LeBlanc found nearly 80 percent of women 65 and older were D-deficient.

Leblanc´s finding is not the only one to surface on mislabeling and dietary content found in supplements. Other studies have found similar disparities in other supplements. ConsumerLab.com, in a 2009 study, discovered more than a third of multivitamins tested contained significantly more or less on some ingredients than what the labels claimed. The company also found similar results to LeBlanc´s study in a recent test of vitamin D samples.

In the brands tested by LeBlanc and her colleagues, the labels promised potencies of vitamin D ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 international units (IUs).

While the actual levels ranged from 9 to 140 percent of what was on the label, the team found when they tested five pills from each bottle and averaged results, levels were closer to 100 percent. However, in a third of the cases, the levels were still too high or too low by the standards set by the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), an independent testing group. LeBlanc said the closest match to 100 percent was actually in one brand carrying the USP mark.

In order for supplements to receive the USP verification mark, manufacturers must undergo annual good marketing practice audits and have their products tested for quality, potency, and purity.

“The USP verification mark may give consumers some reassurance that the amount of vitamin D in those pills is close to the amount listed on the label,” said LeBlanc. “There are not many manufacturers that have the USP mark, but it may be worth the extra effort to look for it.”

“It’s not surprising that they found a lot of products that were not meeting label claims,” John Atwater, director of the verification program at the non-profit USP, told USA Today´s Kim Painter.

Unlike drug companies, supplement makers are not required to prove their products are safe and effective before marketing and selling them. The FDA often inspects supplement plants to ensure they are using good manufacturing practices and has issued warnings in the past for regulation violations. But the FDA does not test every product, even at plants under inspection, Atwater explained.

However, companies that put out mislabeled products are still “breaking the law,” said Duffy McKay, VP of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition.

Several companies have pushed to be more responsible due to increased FDA and public pressure, he said. Consumers who look for well-known brands and those with seals of approval may help in the fight against bad labeling practices.

“We’re hoping that soon we’ll have a perfect record,” MacKay said. “We advocate very strongly for 100% compliance.”

LeBlanc said the study shows more needs to be done to get manufacturers of these supplements to comply.

She also cautioned this study should not discourage consumers from giving up on daily vitamin D supplements. Most health experts recommend that everyone get a minimum of 600 IUs of vitamin D daily for good health.

The problem now, is finding the one brand that has the most accurate dosage. For that, look for the USP mark.

[ Watch the Video: Increase in Dance-Related Injuries in Children ]

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

If you have ever been to the ballet or a dance recital, you know dance is a beautiful form of expression. However, it is very physically taxing and strenuous on the body, especially for children and teens.

A group of researchers from the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital studied dance-related injuries among children and adolescents ages 3 to 19 from 1991 to 2007. An estimated 113,000 children and adolescents were treated for dance-related injuries in US emergency departments during the 17-year study period.

The findings of this study, published recently in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, show the annual number of dance-related injuries increased 37 percent – from 6,175 injuries in 1991 to 8,477 injuries in 2007. The scientists found sprains and/or strains (52 percent) to be the most common types of injury and falls (45 percent) were the most common cause of injury. Forty percent of injured dancers were between 15 and 19 years of age.

“We believe this could be due to adolescent dancers getting more advanced in their skills, becoming more progressed in their careers and spending more time training and practicing,” said Kristin Roberts MS, MPH, senior research associate at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “We encourage children to keep dancing and exercising. But it is important that dancers and their instructors take precautions to avoid sustaining injuries.”

“Safety precautions such as staying well-hydrated, properly warming up and cooling down, concentrating on the proper technique and getting plenty of rest can help prevent dance-related injuries,” said Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s and also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Working globally to reduce and prevent injury-related pediatric death and disabilities, The Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital uses innovative research to continually improve the scientific understanding of the epidemiology, biomechanics, prevention, acute treatment and rehabilitation of injuries.

Because of the rise in dance-related injuries in recent years, the Sports Medicine experts at Nationwide Children’s — who treat the types of injuries seen in performing arts and dance athletes — have developed a number of services to address the needs of the young dancer.

“Adolescents are still growing into their bodies and as such often develop imbalances that can lead to injury,” said Eric Leighton, ATC, an athletic trainer in Sports Medicine at Nationwide Children’s. “It’s critical that intervention and injury prevention be made available to them to address balance, strength and functional body control deficits as they grow. From pointe readiness screens to injury prevention programming, our team has a comprehensive approach to address the needs of these athletes.”

The study is the first to use a nationally representative sample to examine dance-related injuries in the US. The team obtained data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS compiles and provides information on consumer product-related and sports and recreation-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments across the US.

Jason Pierce, MSN, MBA, RN for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

A study by a team of UCLA-led researchers, published in the journal Immunity in January 2013, may aid in the development of broad spectrum medications aimed at combating existing and newly emerging viral threats. Broad spectrum antivirals can be used to treat diseases caused by a variety of different viruses. The development of these medications is a domestic biodefense goal of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Once inside a host, viruses attach to the outside of a cell wall and implant genetic material, in the form of nucleic acid, into the cell. This genetic material contains instructions that reprogram the cell to replicate the virus. One cell can produce hundreds of thousands of viruses before being destroyed by the process. The new viruses will then attempt to attach to other healthy cells to begin the process again. In this manner, the virus moves through the host destroying cells as it reproduces.

The researchers found an oxidized derivative of cholesterol called 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC) infuses cell walls and prevents viruses from implanting genetic material into the cell. The virus is unable to reproduce without access to the cellular machinery, and the healthy cell is not infected.

The process of converting cholesterol to 25HC is carried out by an enzyme known as cholesterol-25-hydroxylase (CH25H). The CH25H enzyme is activated by a chemical called interferon, which is released by cells in response to an attack by a foreign body. Scientist have known for some time that interferon initiates a number of important defense mechanisms within the body, but according to lead author Su-Yang Liu, a medical student at UCLA, this research is the first to describe how interferon acts to prevent a virus from entering a cell. Lu worked with principal investigator Genhong Cheng, a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics.

The research involved implanting 25HC into cell cultures, and attempting to infect the cells with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The 25HC stopped HIV from entering the cells in the test samples. Other test samples demonstrated an inhibition of dangerous viruses, including Ebola, Nipah, and the Rift Valley fever virus.

In vivo testing, using human tissue implanted in mice infected with HIV, showed significant reduction in viral load within seven days. Researchers also found mice depleted of CH25H were more likely to become infected with other viruses.

Liu hopes the study will lead to further research into membrane-modifying cholesterols that inhibit viral reproduction. “Antiviral genes have been hard to apply for therapeutic purposes because it is difficult to express genes in cells,” said Liu. “CH25H, however, produces a natural, soluble oxysterol that can be synthesized and administered.”

Liu does points out 25HC is difficult to deliver in large doses, and its antiviral effect against Ebola, Nipah and other highly pathogenic viruses have yet to be tested in vivo.
Further research is also needed to compare 25HC’s antiviral effect to existing HIV antivirals.

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Fewer babies were born in the US in 2011 than in the previous two years, and babies born to teen mothers dropped to record lows, according to data by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new data, based on an annual summary of vital statistics, also shows that fewer women gave birth in their 20s than in previous years. However, the CDC statistics show that the number of babies born to older woman, those in their late 30s and early 40s, increased in 2011.

Still, the overall data shows that 2011 had fewer births than in any year before. The data shows that 3,953,593 babies were born in the US in 2011–a 1-percent drop from 2010 and a 4-percent drop from 2009. Combining that number with overall population data, the crude birth rate was 12.7 per 1,000 people, the lowest rate ever reported for the US.

The data was compiled by Brady Hamilton, PhD, of the CDC in Atlanta, along with colleagues at the agency and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) in Baltimore. The data appears online early and will be published in the March 2013 issue of Pediatrics.

The lower birth rate is likely a sign of the times.

“The economy has declined, and that certainly is a factor that goes into people’s decisions about having a child,” Hamilton said in an interview with Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health. “Women may say to themselves, ℠It’s not a particularly good time right now“¦ let’s wait a little bit.”

However, for the uptick in births seen in the older population, Hamilton said this is typically due to women who are more secure about their employment, and also understand that they do not have as much time left to give birth as their younger peers.

For teens, birth rates among those 15-19 years of age fell by 8 percent from 2010 to 2011, reaching a historic low of 31.3 births per 1,000 women. Hamilton noted that this is a drop that has been ongoing for years, down 49 percent from 1991.

On the flip side, birth rates among women 35-39 years of age increased by three percent from 2010. In 2011, 4.7 percent of women in their late 30s had a baby, and another one percent in their early 40s also gave birth, according to CDC data.

Among other findings in the report, the team found that cesarean delivery rates remained unchanged in 2011, after steadily increasing from 1996 to 2009.

Preterm birth rates were down slightly in 2011, the fifth straight year of decline, although still higher than the rates seen in the 1980s and most of the 90s. The number of low birth weight babies born in 2011 was also down slightly (by 0.05 percent).

Among other findings, the report shows that black and Hispanic mothers continued to be more likely to have a premature baby than white women, but rates declined among all races. Infant mortality was more than twice as high among babies born to black mothers as in those born to white mothers.

The report showed that 23,192 infant deaths occurred in 2011. The report also showed that deaths for children and adolescents in 2011 were not significantly different than the 2010 findings. But the leading cause of death for children in 2011 was accidents, accounting for 35.6 percent of all deaths, down from 37 percent in 2010. The second leading cause of death was homicide, accounting for 11.4 percent, down from 12.1 percent in 2010.

As for lower teen birth rates, Hamilton said the finding was “welcome news” and reflects the efforts of programs and policies that have targeted that age group.

“It’s definitely consistent with the trends that we’ve seen, and it’s obviously good news overall,” Dr. Krishna Upadhya, who studies teen pregnancy at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, told Reuters Health. “I think the main thing behind this is increased contraceptive use, and better contraceptive use.”

However, there are still areas of the country where condoms and contraception are more difficult for teens to get access to, added Upadhya, who was not involved in the CDC report.

April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Millions suffer from overactive bladder or incontinence, and now help might be on the way. A new study, led by Harvard Medical School, reveals that the epithelium, a thin layer of cells lining the surface of the bladder, is able to sense how full the bladder is through the action of a family of proteins called integrins. The cells of the epithelium stretch and become thinner as the bladder fills. This activates the integrins, causing them to send the information to nerves and other cells in the bladder.

The findings of this study, published online in the FASEB Journal, may one day help researchers design drugs that target this mechanism to treat conditions like incontinence and overactive bladder — common, serious problems affecting millions of people.

“I am very hopeful that as we learn more about how the bladder senses fullness and conveys that information to the nerves and the muscles which control our ability to urinate, that this greater understanding and knowledge will lead to new treatments,” said Warren G. Hill, Ph.D., a researcher from the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

“It is extremely important that we do this as quickly as possible, since there are millions of people who suffer enormously from the anguish of bladder pain, incontinence and constant feelings of needing to go. I am optimistic these new insights into the role of integrins will begin the process of discovering important new drug targets which will dramatically improve the quality of life for many of these people.”

The research team tested two groups of mice. One group were genetically modified to be missing an important member of the integrin family in the epithelium, while the second group of mice was normal. Both groups of mice had normal appearing bladders, but the group without the integrin protein had very little bladder control. When the researchers tested the bladders of the integrin knockout mice, they found the bladders were constantly squeezing and very overactive. They also found that the mice overfilled their bladders and took much longer to urinate than the normal mice.

Most current drug treatments target proteins in the muscle surrounding the bladder for overactive bladder problems. The findings of this study demonstrate that it might be possible to design drugs that target sensory proteins in the epithelium.

“No one wants to pee in his or her pants,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal, “but the reality is that bladder problems — incontinence, frequency and pain – affect more people than we realize. This report offers hope that new drugs targeting the bladder’s epithelium will succeed when current drugs fail.”

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

According to new data released this week, a drop in alcohol-related deaths was seen in Canada after the minimum alcohol price was increased.

British Columbia researchers carried out a study to determine what happened once prices of alcohol increased in Canada. They found that between 2002 and 2009, the percentage of deaths caused by alcohol had dropped.

During the study, the team used three categories of death associated with alcohol, including wholly alcohol attributable (AA), acute, and chronic. They analyzed death rates across the time period against increases in government set minimum prices of alcohol drinks.

While the study was ongoing, another provincial policy was enacted, allowing partial privatization of alcohol retail stores. Previously, alcohol could only be sold directly to the public in government owned stores. Because of this, the researchers had to make controls for the effects of the wider availability of alcohol, and assess what effect this measure had on mortality rates.

They said the major finding in the study was that increased minimum alcohol prices were associated with immediate, substantial and significant reductions in wholly AA deaths.

With a 10 percent increase in the average minimum price for all alcoholic beverages, the researchers saw it was associated with a 32 percent reduction in wholly AA deaths.

Significant reductions in chronic and total AA deaths were detected between two and three years after minimum price increases, while some of the effect was also detected for up to a year after prices increased.

A rise in prices by 10 percent in private liquor stores saw a 2 percent increase in acute, chronic, and total AA mortality rates, according to the research.

The overall drop in deaths was more than expected, finding that a minimum price increase of 1 percent was associated with a mortality decline of more than 3 percent.

Researchers believe the reason for the reduction in mortality is that increasing the price for cheaper drinks reduces the consumption on heavier drinkers, who tend to prefer these drinks. They said other research has suggested that impacts on some types of mortality may be delayed by a year or two after prices increase.

“This study adds to the scientific evidence that, despite popular opinion to the contrary, even the heaviest drinkers reduce their consumption when minimum alcohol prices increase,” Dr Tim Stockwell, director of the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia and a lead author, said. “It is hard otherwise to explain the significant changes in alcohol-related deaths observed in British Columbia.”

Alcohol Focus Scotland told BBC News that the study adds to evidence that minimum pricing is an effective tool for reducing alcohol abuse.

“This is important evidence which shows that minimum pricing is saving lives in Canada and will save lives in Scotland,” Dr Evelyn Gillan, chief executive, told BBC. “Increasing the price of the cheapest alcohol through minimum pricing has the biggest effect on the heaviest drinkers who are most at risk of alcohol-related illness and death.”

However, the researchers’ findings were also met with opposition from the Wind and Spirits Association (WSA).

“There is not a simple link between alcohol price and harm,” Miles Beale, chief executive of WSA, told BBC. “Consumption is more likely to be related to cultural factors and that the increase in price does not impact on these significantly.”

He said the industry is committed to tackling problems with drinking, but that minimum pricing would not do that.

Study findings were published this week in the journal Addiction.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Fried chicken, bacon, fried fish, sweet tea. Sounds delicious, right? According to a new study, these Southern-style foods may be linked to an increased risk of stroke.

Researchers from the University of Alabama, Birmingham believe this is the first large-scale study that examines the connection between stroke and Southern foods. The items that the team of investigators looked at included bacon, fried fish, fried potatoes, fried chicken, ham, liver, gizzards along with sugary drinks like sweet tea. They emphasized that the fried foods are not only high in fat, but also have a high concentration of salt. The study´s results was recently presented at the American Stroke Association´s International Stroke Conference.

“We’ve got three major factors working together in the Southern-style diet to raise risks of cardiovascular disease: fatty foods are high in cholesterol, sugary drinks are linked to diabetes and salty foods lead to high blood pressure,” noted the study´s lead researcher Suzanne Judd, who serves as a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham’s biostatistics department, in a prepared statement.

Scientists compared the dietary habits of over 20,000 black and white adults. Participants, who were part of the ongoing Reasons for Geographic and Racial Difference in Stroke Study (REGARDS) and living in 48 different states, completed telephone questionnaires regarding the food they ate. Following the telephone questionnaire, each individual completed an in-person medical assessment for information regarding their height, weight and blood pressure. They also had an electrocardiogram and a blood test done. Six months following the initial tests they answered follow-up telephone questions regarding their sleep habits, stroke frequency, and overall health.

The study provided a number of findings. One staggering statistic was that individuals who consumed Southern foods approximately six times a week had a 41 percent higher chance of suffering a stroke than those who only ate southern-style foods once a month. In addition, stroke incidence was directly proportional to the amount of Southern food the study subjects consumed. In particular, “eating a Southern diet accounted for 63 percent of the higher risk of stroke among African-Americans above that of their white counterparts.”

On the other hand, the team of investigators discovered that individuals with the highest consumption of fruits, legumes, vegetables, and whole grains had a 29 percent lower stroke risk than individuals who had the lowest consumption of these types of food.

“There are other foods in the Southern-style diet which are good,” commented Judd in an article by ABC News. “Collard greens, for example. Just having a little more whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean protein sources — chicken without the skin, fish that isn’t fried — gives you an across-the-board 20 percent reduction in stroke risk.”

The findings are particularly concerning for African-Americans, who are five times more likely to consume Southern foods than whites. Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that it is important for healthcare providers to educate their patients on nutrition as well as make recommendations based on their eating habits.

“We’ve known that diets high in saturated fats and deep fried foods and low in fruits and vegetables are tied to greater health risks,” Keith Ayoob, who is unaffiliated with the study and is an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told ABC News.

In the past, other studies have also examined the risk of stroke, with Southerners having a 20 percent higher likelihood of suffering a stroke compared to people living in other regions in the US. Stroke symptoms include confusion, difficulty seeing, dizziness, headache, and weakness or sudden numbness in the body. According to CBS News, the American Stroke Association is working to reduce the risk of stroke with the campaign “Power to End Stroke”.

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

A new study by Indiana University recently discovered that fish oil could help hemodialysis patients to avoid sudden cardiac death.

Researchers believe that this is one of the first studies to examine the possible advantages of fish oil for individuals on hemodialysis who are at a high risk of having sudden cardiac death.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, sudden cardiac death is the loss of heart function and also known as sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac death usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart that stops the pumping action of the organ, limiting blood flow to the rest of the body. Sudden cardiac arrest often results in the loss of consciousness, breathing and heart function, and can lead to death in just minutes.

The recent study included data from 100 patients who passed away due to sudden cardiac death during their first year of hemodialysis as well as 300 patients who survived.

“We found that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood of patients who were just starting hemodialysis were very strongly associated with a lower risk of sudden cardiac death over the first year of their treatment,” explained the study´s first author Dr. Allon Friedman, an associate professor of nephrology at Indiana University School of Medicine, in statement.

The team of investigators explained how the first-year survival rate for patients who are on hemodialysis is 35 percent, with a higher risk of death during the first few months that follow the start of treatment.

“The risk of sudden cardiac death in hemodialysis patients is highest during the first year of treatment. The annual rate of sudden cardiac death is about 6 to 7 percent, which may even exceed the rate in patients with heart failure,” explained Friedman. “This study is a first step toward identifying a possible treatment for sudden cardiac death in dialysis patients.”

Sudden cardiac death causes one out of every four deaths for individuals undergoing hemodialysis, making it the leading cause of death for this subgroup of patients.

“Because omega-3 fatty acids can be obtained from certain foods, such as fish oil, our findings also have important implications for the type of diet we recommend to patients on dialysis,” concluded Friedman in the statement.

According to the Mayo Clinic, fish oil is a source of omega-3 fatty acids that can also help slow the hardening of arteries, decrease blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke. The findings of the Indiana University study are similar to results found in other studies. In particular, scientists at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University (OSU) recently completed a meta-analysis of varying studies on fish oil. They wanted to better understand the data that supported and did not support the use of fish oil. Even after reviewing a variety of often conflicting data, the investigators concluded that fish oil does, in fact, have a number of health benefits.

“After decades of studying omega-3 fatty acids, it´s clear that they have value in primary prevention of heart disease,” commented Donald Jump, who serves as a principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute and professor in the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences.

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

New Zealand researchers have presented evidence that smoking marijuana may be increasing your chances of having a stroke.

They reported at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2013 that ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients were 2.3 times more likely to have smoked pot.

“This is the first case-controlled study to show a possible link to the increased risk of stroke from cannabis,” said P. Alan Barber, Ph.D., M.D., study lead investigator and professor of clinical neurology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. “Cannabis has been thought by the public to be a relatively safe, although illegal substance. This study shows this might not be the case; it may lead to stroke.”

Researchers studied 160 stroke patients between the ages of 18 and 55 years old who had urine screens upon admission to the hospital. They said that 150 of the patients had ischemic stroke, and 10 had TIAs.

Just 8.1 percent of the controls in the study tested positive for cannabis, and researchers found no differences in age, stroke mechanism or most vascular risk factors between the pot users, and non-users.

“These patients usually had no other vascular risk factors apart from tobacco, alcohol and other drug usage,” Barber said.

He added that it is challenging to perform prospective studies involving illegal substances like cannabis because questioning stroke and control patients about marijuana use could lead to unreliable responses.

During the study, researchers were able to use urine samples from hospitalized patients, but were only told the age, sex and ethnicity of the patients.

Barber said the study provides strong evidence of an association between cannabis and stroke, adding that it is confounded because all but one of the stroke patients who were cannabis users also used tobacco regularly.

“We believe it is the cannabis and not tobacco,” said Barber. “This may prove difficult given the risks of bias and ethical strictures of studying the use of an illegal substance. However, the high prevalence of cannabis use in this cohort of younger stroke patients makes this research imperative.”

He said physicians should be testing young people who come in with stroke for cannabis use, and that people should think twice about smoking pot. Barber claims that it can affect brain development, and result in emphysema, heart attack and strokes.

The research comes at a controversial time in the U.S., as voters in Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana use for adults 21-and-over in the state. Although smoking marijuana is still illegal federally, U.S. President Obama has come out and essentially said that they will not be focusing on this issue. Although laws and systems have not been set up in the states yet, marijuana shops to sell pot to adults may start popping up as early as this year, depending on how the laws are written and the time frame it takes.

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online
Bacon grease– or lard– was once a mainstay in old-fashioned, country kitchens. While there are those purists out there who insist on using it to bake their biscuits or cook their beans, many who are looking to clean up their diet have been switching to vegetable fats. In fact, it´s long been believed that replacing these animal fats is a heart healthier option. The American Heart Association (AHA), for example, favors replacing these saturated fats with vegetable fats of the omega-6, polyunsaturated variety.
New analysis of these beliefs, however, has found that these recommendations may have been “misguided.”
In reconsidering these claims, researchers studied the cases of 458 men who had experienced a coronary event, such as a heart attack. Of these men, 16 percent who had replaced animal fats with omega-6 polyunsaturated fats found in corn, sunflower and safflower oil died from heart disease. In contrast, only 10 percent of those who did not substitute their fats died as a result of a coronary event.
Dietitians have been recommending people replace their saturated fat with oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids for half a century. Health authorities around the world have even suggested increasing the amount of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats in order to stave off heart disease and avoid coronary events.
Yet, there were those that disagreed with this thinking as there had not been enough solid evidence to prove that these vegetable fats reduce the risk of heart disease. Now, new analysis on this matter is the most in-depth study into the effects of these fats on those with heart disease.
This study is only now possible because randomized data gathered over a 7-year span by the Sydney Heart Study has recently been recovered.
Researchers from Australia and the US have taken a deeper look at this data, using modern statistical methods to compare the death rates from cardiac and coronary diseases.
In order to prove these results, the research team conducted a study on those 458 men, all aged between 30 and 59 years old. These men were then separated into 2 groups– those who had been told to switch from saturated fats to polyunsaturated fats and those who had not been given any dietary advice. Those who had been instructed to switch their fats had a higher death rate than those who had not been instructed to change their diet.
With this study completed, the researchers are now questioning the validity of switching from animal fat to vegetable oils.
According to the team of international researchers, finding this missing data “filled a critical gap in the published literature archive.” They´ve also said their new research “could have important implications for worldwide dietary advice to substitute omega-6 linoleic acid (or polyunsaturated fatty acids in general) for saturated fatty acids.”
Writing in an accompanying editorial, Professor Philip Calder from the University of Southampton agrees with the researchers, saying this new data “provides important information about the impact of high intakes of omega 6 PUFAs, in particular linoleic acid, on cardiovascular mortality at a time when there is considerable debate on this question.”
In addition to releasing their results, the research team is also releasing the missing data they uncovered as a part of their “open data” campaign as well as asking other researchers to submit any other data which may have previously been missing.

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online

Though they´re often used to promote bone health and stave off osteoporosis, calcium supplements have also been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

A new study published online yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine claims men actually have a higher risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease when taking calcium supplements. And men who take these supplements are nearly 20% more likely to die from a cardiovascular disease than women.

According to the background information in the study, many elderly patients are being prescribed calcium supplements for all the bone health benefits they provide. Yet, fewer studies have been performed to understand the effect calcium has on other, non-skeletal parts of the body. The authors write these effects are becoming “increasingly contentious” among health officials, thus spurring their research.

The study was led by Dr. Qian Xiao of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. Along with colleagues, Dr. Xiao set out to determine if these calcium supplements were associated with mortality from heart diseases as well as cerebrovascular diseases.

To conduct this study, Dr. Xiao´s team examined more than 388,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 71 from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study (NIH-AARP) dating from 1995 to 1996.

“In this large, prospective study we found that supplemental but not dietary calcium intake was associated with an increased CVD (cardiovascular disease) mortality in men but not in women,” write the study´s authors.

Dr. Xiao and team found 51 percent of men and 70 percent of women who died of CVD during the study period had been taking supplemental calcium. The team then compared the number of cardiovascular deaths of those taking calcium supplements against those who had died and had not been taking the supplements. By comparison, those men who had been taking calcium supplements were more likely to have suffered a cardiovascular event. These men also had a heightened risk of heart disease when taking the supplements. Women, on the other hand, were not found to be more at risk when taking calcium.

It is important to note, of course, this study observed the link between supplemental calcium and heart disease. This study found no link between calcium obtained through a normal diet and heart disease or death.

“Whether there is a sex difference in the cardiovascular effect of calcium supplement warrants further investigation,” said Dr. Xiao in a statement. “Given the extensive use of calcium supplement in the population, it is of great importance to assess the effect of supplemental calcium use beyond bone health.”

According to the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine, calcium is not only essential to bone health, but also plays an important role in blood clotting, muscle contraction and nerve transmission. Therefore, it is recommended men between the ages of 50 and 70 take in 1,200 milligrams of dietary calcium each day, found in dairy products, green vegetables such as broccoli or kale, and even corn tortillas. Men and women of a younger age, in between 19 and 50, are recommended to take in slightly less calcium every day, around 1,000 milligrams.

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

The areas of the human brain responsible for our perception of shape and orientation have been discovered by researchers from a pair of UK-based universities — a discovery which they call an important advance in the understanding of how our minds process visual information.

Scientists from the University of York Department of Psychology and the University of Bradford School of Optometry & Vision Science used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) equipment to discover that two adjacent areas of the cortex known as human visual field maps are responsible for processing different types of visual information independent of each other.

As the scientists explained Sunday in a statement, they used the imaging technique to subject the areas to magnetic fields for a short period of time in order to disrupt their normal activity. That work was completed at the York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC).

In doing so, they discovered that one of the areas had “a specialized and causal role in processing orientation while neural activity in the other underpinned the processing of shape defined by differences in curvature.” Their findings have been detailed in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

“Measuring activity across the brain with FMRI can’t tell us what causal role different areas play in our perception. It is by disrupting brain function in specific areas that allows the causal role of that area to be assessed,” said Professor Tony Morland of York’s Department of Psychology, who co-designed the study along with Dr. Declan McKeefry of the University of Bradford. “Historically, neuropsychologists have found out a lot about the human brain by examining people who have had permanent disruption of certain parts of the brain because of injury to it.”

That proved difficult in this case, however, because brain damage tends not to occur at the spatial scale that allows scientists to study the functions of smaller, neighboring regions of the brain to be closely analyzed, Morland said.

For that reason, his team set out to briefly disrupt regular brain activity through the application of magnetic fields — which, when applied to one tiny region of the brain, allowed them to discover that some orientation tasks became harder, and when applied to an adjacent area, interfered with a person´s ability to perceive shape.

“The combination of modern brain scanning technology along with magnetic neuro-stimulation techniques provides us with a powerful means by which we can study the workings of the living human brain,” Dr. McKeefry said. “The results that we report in this paper provide new insights into how the human brain embarks upon the complex task of analyzing objects that we see in the world around us.”

“Our work demonstrates how processing of different aspects of visual objects, such as orientation and shape, occurs in different brain areas that lie side by side. The ultimate challenge will be to reveal how this information is combined across these and other brain areas and how it ultimately leads to object recognition,” he added.