Children who live with a smoker or have exposure to tobacco smoke inside the home become frequently ill and are more likely to have pediatric health care visits, including sick care, say researchers.

"Our findings indicate that tobacco smoke exposure has a significant impact on demand for health care services," said lead study author Ashley Merianos from University of Cincinnati.

The team analysed 2011-2012 data from the National Survey on Children's Health and looked at newborn to 17-years-old children, living with smokers compared with those who not exposed to tobacco smoke at home.

The results revealed a total of 24 percent of the children lived with smokers.

Children who live with smokers end up in the doctor's office or hospital more often than those not exposed to tobacco smoke.

"Pediatric emergency departments could serve as effective outlets for health messages to inform caregivers about the dangers of smoking around children and help decrease these potentially preventable tobacco smoke exposure-related visits and associated costs," Merianos added.

The study was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 meeting in Baltimore recently.

A new study suggests that drinking peppermint tea can improve long-term and working memory in healthy adults.

For the research, the team randomly allocated a total of 180 participants to take a drink of peppermint tea, chamomile tea or hot water.

They found that participants who took peppermint tea showed significant improvement in long term memory, working memory and alertness.

However, participants who took chamomile tea exhibited slowed memory and attention speed compared to both who took peppermint and hot water.

"It's interesting to see the contrasting effects on mood and cognition of the two different herbal teas. The enhancing and arousing effects of peppermint and the calming/sedative effects of chamomile observed in this study are in keeping with the claimed properties of these herbs and suggest beneficial effects can be drawn from their use," said Mark Moss, researcher at Northumbria University in Britain.

Before the participants consumed their drink they completed questionnaires relating to their mood.

After a twenty minute rest the participants completed tests that assessed their memory and a range of other cognitive functions.

The findings have been presented recently at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Nottingham.

A new study was found by a team of researchers, including an Indian-origin scientist which suggests that combining a marine fish oil, cocoa extract and phytosterols into a dietary supplement may cut down the risk of developing heart disease.

The researchers examined that the potential of combining dietary supplement as a means of preventing atherosclerosis or 'furring' of the arteries.

Dipak Ramji from Cardiff University in Britain, one of the researchers said that a variety of active food ingredients have been shown to impart beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease although little is known regarding their actions when taken in combination.

The findingd showed that in cell-based models, combining the three ingredients could, potentially, help halt the key processes associated with the progression of atherosclerosis.

It was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Using a series of cell-based experimental models, the team examined what happens when omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (found in marine fish oil), flavanols (found in cocoa) and phytosterols are combined.

"The challenge now is to take our findings and examine whether they translate into humans," researchers suggested.

Atherosclerosis is the major cause of heart disease, killing approximately one individual every 34 seconds and responsible for around a third of all deaths worldwide.

Current therapies against atherosclerosis are not fully effective and there have been numerous recent disappointments on promising agents that have been identified through various drug discovery programs.

Blocking the hormone that raises sugar levels in the blood could increase insulin levels while keeping blood sugar levels down, which may help treat type 1 diabetes, a new study has found.

The findings point to a novel way to treat diabetes - but only in some patients, researchers said.

"Inhibiting the hormone glucagon has recently been explored as an alternative or supplement to insulin injection, but it has limitations," said Pedro Herrera from the University of Geneva.

"Our research reveals why - the body needs to have some residual insulin production in order for a treatment blocking glucagon to work," said Herrera.

Other recent studies have suggested that diabetes is caused solely by an excess of glucagon rather than a deficiency of insulin. These studies found that blocking glucagon prevents excessively high blood glucose levels, despite a complete lack of insulin.

They suggested that blocking glucagon rather than regularly injecting insulin could be a treatment for hyperglycemia. However, the current findings indicate that the models used were not totally lacking in insulin and that just blocking glucagon was only effective if some insulin was still being produced.

For the new research, scientists used transgenic mice in which insulin could be more efficiently eliminated. These mice became severely diabetic.

Around three quarters of patients with type 1 diabetes possess a small number of the beta cells needed to produce insulin. In these patients, blocking glucagon, in addition to insulin replacement, could help keep blood sugar levels in check.

It could also result in some glucagon-producing alpha cells converting into beta cells and producing more insulin.

Sugar accumulates in the blood after a meal, triggering the release of insulin from the pancreas to allow tissues to use and store it. During fasting or exercising, glucagon is released and opposes the action of insulin, researchers said.

The balance between the two pancreatic hormones keeps blood sugar levels steady, they said. Using insulin therapy and blocking glucagon as a combined treatment could in some cases provide a more effective and safer way to maintain a healthy balance and avoid the peaks and troughs of blood sugar levels, researchers said.
The findings were published in the journal eLife.

Swedish researchers have identified a protein commonly found in connective tissue that contributes to the development as well as spread of breast cancer.

Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein (COMP) is a protein that has been found in cartilage -- a connective tissue found in many areas of the body including joints between bones of elbows, knees and ankles.

"We did not expect to find COMP in connection with breast cancer, and we were also surprised by the strong effect it had on the development of breast cancer in mice," said Emelie Englund, researcher at Lund University in Sweden.

The findings revealed that women, who had higher levels of COMP, experienced an increase in the spread of breast cancer, to the surrounding tissues and also showed an increase in the mortality rate.

COMP not only contributed to a more rapid growth of the primary tumour, but also to the formation of metastases.

Further, COMP affects the cell metabolism and makes the breast environment less favourable to healthy cells.

It makes the cancer cells more resistant to natural cell death.

"We saw a clear association between high levels of COMP and a worse breast cancer prognosis", explained Anna Blom, professor, in the paper published in the journal Oncogene.

Various amounts of COMP were found in both the tumours and the surrounding tissue, but never in healthy breast tissue.

With more research, COMP has the potential of becoming an indicator of aggressive breast cancer, and thereby providing early and valuable information before deciding on an appropriate treatment, the researchers indicated.

The results are based on a clinical study of breast tissue from a little more than 600 women with breast cancer.