Pregnant women who sleep on their back may increase the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth, a five-year Australian study has found.

The research titled the "Sydney Stillbirth Study" looked at pregnancies of 295 women from eight hospitals around Australia, the Daily Mail reported.


The study found that women who sleep on their back are six times more likely to have a stillborn baby.

A stillborn baby is a baby born dead after 24 weeks of pregnancy. If the baby dies before 24 completed weeks, it is known as a late miscarriage.

Lead researcher Adrienne Gordon, from Sydney`s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, said previous research suggested prolonged periods of lying in this position restricted blood flow to the baby.

It is believed that sleeping on the right side or on the back reduces blood flow through a major vein from the legs to the heart, which affects the supply to the womb, the study said.

However, the researchers said it was important that women who are currently pregnant "don`t become alarmed if they sometimes sleep on their back".

Experts said three-quarters of pregnant women sleep mostly on the left side.

The daily said this may suggest they instinctively choose a sleeping position that works best for the baby.

In almost half of stillbirths, the direct cause of the baby`s death cannot be established.

Ten percent of stillborn babies have some kind of abnormality and other possible causes include problems with the mother`s health or problems with the placenta, which links the baby`s blood supply to that of the mother.

Stillbirth Foundation Australia, which funded the study, said the research was unique as it looked exclusively at women who were more than 32 weeks pregnant.

In 2011, a University of Auckland study found that mothers who slept on their back or right-hand side on the night before giving birth were twice as likely to have a stillborn child compared to those who slept on their left.

Eating oily fish may boost women's heart health more than men's, claim researchers.

The oils - found in fish like salmon, mackerel and tuna - are known to improve chances of surviving a repeat heart attack.

But a new study suggests women could benefit more from their effect on the heart.

Researchers at the University of Reading found fish oils have a direct impact on the muscle cells that control the elasticity of our blood vessels.

In tests, women got double the benefit compared with men as elasticity improved four-fold in women compared with two-fold in men.

In fact the beneficial effect of the fish oil in women was as potent as that of drugs that are prescribed to people with poor blood vessel elasticity, such as those with diabetes.

At least 39,000 women a year in the UK suffer heart attacks and their chances of dying are higher than a man's.

Study leader Professor Christine Williams, the University's first Hugh Sinclair Professor of Nutrition and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, said: 'Studies examining women's heart health are much less common than those which study men, partly because the studies are harder to carry out in women due to the varying effects of hormones during the menstrual cycle.

'In addition, many believe men are the only ones to suffer from heart disease.

'However nearly 40,000 women die of coronary heart disease each year in the UK and we do not yet know whether all the diet recommendations which we currently advise are as effective for women as for men.

'The good news here is that current recommendations that we should all eat more oily fish appears to be more effective for women than men.'

However, two thirds of Britons never eat oily fish even though official guidelines recommend its consumption at least once a week.

In the study around 60 people, half men and women, were given test drinks containing either saturated fats or a combination with omega 3 fish oils, equivalent to a 200g portion of oily fish.

Imaging was used to check the reaction of the blood cells to the different drinks, says a report in the Journal of Lipid Research.

Prof Williams said 'As well as discovering the effect of fish oils is greater in women we also found that people with a gene variation that produces the protein eNOS, which helps to increase blood flow, also benefitted more.

'Our study showed that people who carry the rarer form of the protein, which is about 10 per cent of the UK population, respond twice as well to fish oils, suggesting they would particularly benefit from additional oily fish intake.

'This research supports the view that the effects of diets vary, being more effective in certain genders and genotypes. Our study was very carefully designed to include equal numbers of men and women and also equal numbers of people with the two types of gene variants, so that the results are very unlikely to be due to chance. 'Although the responses varied, all the subjects in the study benefitted from taking fish oils with a meal.

'However, for women and those with the gene variant, the responses were very marked indeed, and when it comes to their diet could give them considerable health benefits in the future.' The work was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Fish oil is known to increase the release of nitric oxide from the lining of the blood vessel wall which causes relaxation of the vessel and increases blood flow.

However the researchers found that some of the relaxation effect on the blood vessel wall may be due to direct actions of the fish oil acting on the muscle cells themselves, rather than on the cells lining the blood vessel wall.

Professor Williams added 'This is an exciting discovery which gives us a new way of looking at how our diet affects the health of our blood vessels, and possibly more effective ways of improving heart health in the future.' The best dietary source of omega 3 fatty acids is oily fish because the human body cannot produce omega-3 fatty acids.

There has been an explosion in the number of foods fortified with omega-3 oils, such as chickens, margarine, eggs, milk and bread, but they contain only small amounts.

Types of fish that contain high levels include tuna, salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and anchovies.

White fish is also a healthy food including cod, haddock and plaice although it contains lower levels of essential fatty acids.

Fish oil supplements are recommended as protection against repeat heart attacks, with regular fish eaters a third more likely to survive a heart attack.

Fish oil supplements are approved for prescribing on the NHS to patients after a heart attack, or who have metabolic syndrome or high triglycerides - unhealthy blood fats.

Omacor, which is licensed for post-heart attack treatment, has been shown in clinical trials to cut the risk of sudden death by up to 45 per cent.

Omega-3 fats are important throughout adult life for mental wellbeing but in particular help heart patients, and those with arthritis, by blocking the body's response to inflammation.

They work in several ways to reduce heart attack risk by cutting blood fats, reducing the chances of a blood clot and blocking dangerous heart rhythms that might otherwise prove fatal.

A new cardiac CT scan machine, which reduces radiation exposure and displays better images, has been installed at a South Delhi-based imaging centre. It is expected to improve diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD).

Experts at Mahajan Imaging Centre in Hauz Khas said it was India's first dual energy CT scan machine with cardiac spectral imaging capabilities. Known as the 'Discovery CT750-HD FREEdom Edition' by GE Healthcare, this machine will help doctors diagnose CHD.

CHD occurs when arteries near the heart are narrowed or blocked by deposits of fatty plaque and calcium in vessels. If left unchecked, these blockages can lead to heart attacks.

Dr Harsh Mahajan, president of Indian Radiological and Imaging Association, said, "With most CT scan machines it is difficult to see the condition of the heart vessels because calcium deposits would obscure our view. Even if we managed to see the blockage, it was difficult to identify the nature of deposit."

Dr JPS Sawhney, cardiology department chairman at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said, "The machine will let radiologists see if the heart tissue is living or not. It will help us take correct decisions about further course of treatment."

Now you can undergo an eye test from the comfort of your home. Titan Eye Plus has launched Vision Check, a new online facility where you need to spend just five minutes to undergo a self-administered vision test to find out whether you need spectacles or whether the power of your current one is adequate.

Though it cannot be used as a substitute for a formal eye test, nor does it prescribe power, nonetheless the test detects any vision defects.

At the launch, Ravi Kant, CEO of Titan Industries eyewear division, said that roughly one third of the population in the country need vision correction and only 25-30% have taken the necessary steps. Others are ignoring and living with the problem and many are not even aware of it. Through Vision Check facility, we are making eye tests accessible to them, he added.

Titan Industries MD Bhaskar Bhat said vision check tests in vernacular languages would be launched at a later stage.

You might often be too busy at work to take an hour-long lunch break, but working 10-hour days without a break could double your chances of deep vein thrombosis.

Almost 75 per cent of office staff aged 21-30 who work 10-hour days don't get up to take a break. This could double chances of a fatal blood clot.

As lunch breaks increasingly become a thing of the past, ten people a day on average have been dying from DVT.

There has been a rapid rise in the number of DVT victims under 40, with 94 dying in 2010 up 40 per cent from 67 in 2007 according to figures released yesterday.

According to the Office for National Statistics 3,798 people died of DVT in 2010.

Spokesperson for DVT charity Lifeblood, Annya Stephens-Boal, said: 'We all do it, work long hours and grab a sandwich at our desk.

'We believe there are 60,000 DVT cases a year throughout the UK.

'The scariest part is that 80% have no signs at all, no swelling, redness or pain. We call it the silent killer.'

The best way to avoid DVT, which can kill when blood clots move to the lungs, is to keep mobile and eat a low salt, low fat diet.