Distracting yourself from pain can actually help you hurt less, suggest experts.

In a new study that involved 33 people, participants who were subjected to slight pain on their forearms reported less discomfort when they were asked to perform a distracting mental test as the pain was delivered.

Moreover, when participants were given a placebo "pain relief" cream, and distracted at the same time, their pain was even more reduced.

"Both placebo and distraction are effective mechanisms for reducing pain. You can combine them and you don't lose anything," said study researcher Jason Buhle, who conducted the research as part of his doctoral dissertation from Columbia University.

The work sheds light on how the placebo effect may work, Buhle said.

Previously, it had been thought that the placebo effect was the result of some perhaps unconscious mental effort, but the new results suggest that it relies on a separate mechanism from distraction.

What the researchers found was that the placebo cream and the distracting test both had lessened the participants pain, but distraction made for a much more effective pain reliever.

"It's clear that distraction is very powerful, and it was not uncommon for someone with a distraction condition to say, 'Did you really turn it on?' Buhle said.

"Sometimes they won't even feel the pain It is striking to see."

By contrast, he said, "Nobody says that after the placebo."

Calling the findings "intriguing," Dr. Ian Cook, director of the UCLA Depression Research and Clinic Program, said the study helps point to a new path for nondrug treatments for pain.

It would be interesting to see the effect of distraction on other conditions where the placebo effect has shown an impact, such as anxiety, Cook said.

Could a phone be smart enough to work out when we're suffering from depression?

According to researchers at Northwestern University, the answer is yes.

The very smart phone being developed by the scientists would work as a virtual therapist and sense the user's mood.
And it will even offer a cure. The phone would send a text message urging you to get out and do something to feel better.

By learning all the user's usual patterns, it can sense when he or she is isolated.
'We're trying to develop individual algorithms for each user that can determine specific states, so their location where they are, their activity, their social context, who they're with, what they're engaged in and their mood,' said psychologist David Mohr.

So if someone is stuck inside for days and feeling down, the 'Mobilyze!' phone could sense it.

'It can provide them an automated text message, or an automated phone call to make a suggestion to give somebody a call or get out of the house,' he added.

Tests on eight volunteers have shown the phone doctor has helped boost their moods.

'They all had a major depressive disorder when they started, and they were all both clinically and statistically better at the end of the treatment,' Dr Mohr told CBS.

'By prompting people to increase behaviours that are pleasurable or rewarding, we believe that Mobilyze! will improve mood,' said the Director of the new Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies and a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern's Feinberg School.

'It creates a positive feedback loop. Someone is encouraged to see friends, then enjoys himself and wants to do it again. Ruminating alone at home has the opposite effect and causes a downward spiral,' added.
Wider tests are planned this summer.

The risk of birth defects increases four-fold if the pregnant mother has diabetes, researchers say.

The Newcastle University study, published in the journal Diabetologia, analysed data from more than 400,000 pregnancies in North East England.

The risk of defects such as congenital heart disease and spina bifida were increased.

National guidelines already recommend having good control over blood sugar levels before trying to conceive.

Both Type 1 diabetes, which tends to appear in childhood, and Type 2 diabetes, often linked to diet, lead to problems controlling the amount of sugar in the blood.

This is known to cause problems in pregnancy, such as birth defects, miscarriage and the baby being overweight due to too much sugar.

There is concern that rising levels of diabetes, particularly Type 2, could make the issue worse.

Researchers analysed data from 401,149 pregnancies between 1996 and 2008 - 1,677 women had diabetes.

The risk of birth defects went from 19 in every 1,000 births for women without pre-existing diabetes to 72 in every 1,000 births for women with diabetes.

Their report said that sugar levels in the run-up to conception were the "most important" risk factor which could be controlled.

The lead researcher, Dr Ruth Bell from Newcastle University, told the BBC: "Many of these anomalies happen in the first four to six weeks."

She said the number of pregnancies with poor sugar control were "more than we would like".

"It is a problem when the pregnancy is not intended or when people are not aware they need to talk to their doctors before pregnancy," she said.

Guidelines from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence say women should reduce their levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c - a marker for long-term blood sugar control) to below 6.1% before trying to have a baby.

The United Nurses Association (UNA) is all set to intensify the ongoing protest at� Lakeshore Hospital, the organisation said in a press release.

From February 10, the organisation will hold a relay fast at Lakeshore Hospital here. UNA state president Jasmine Shah will hold an indefinite fast from February 14.

On the same day, the members of the organisation will take out a protest march to the residence of Dr Philip Augustine, the managing director of the hospital. On February 23, the organisation will take out a march to the IG Office in Ernakulam.

"The persons who attacked the nurses at Amrita Hospital have been released by the police and are back at the hospital. The march is to demand the arrest of these persons," the UNA president said.

Over one lakh nurses from the organisation will also send mass e-mails to the President, Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, urging them to withdraw the Padma Shri award given to Dr Augustine. Meanwhile, yet another round of talks between the Lakeshore Hospital management and the UNA failed to make any headway.

A new wonder pill, capable of harnessing the health-boosting power of red wine may play a vital role in fighting a range of common illnesses, researchers say.

National Institutes of Health researchers and their colleagues have identified how resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical found in red wine and other plant products, may confer its health benefits.

The authors have presented evidence that resveratrol does not directly activate sirtuin 1, a protein associated with aging.
Rather, the authors found that resveratrol inhibits certain types of proteins known as phosphodiesterases (PDEs), enzymes that help regulate cell energy.

These findings may help settle the debate regarding resveratrol's biochemistry and pave the way for resveratrol-based medicines.

The chemical has received significant interest from pharmaceutical companies for its potential to combat diabetes, inflammation, and cancer.

"Resveratrol has potential as a therapy for diverse diseases such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and heart disease," said lead study author Jay H. Chung, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Obesity and Aging Research at the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

"However, before researchers can transform resveratrol into a safe and effective medicine, they need to know exactly what it targets in cells."

Several previous studies suggested that resveratrol's primary target is sirtuin 1. Chung and colleagues suspected otherwise when they found that resveratrol activity required another protein called AMPK. This would not be the case if resveratrol directly interacted with sirtuin 1.

In this study, the researchers methodically traced out the metabolic activity in cells treated with resveratrol and identified PDE4 in the skeletal muscle as the principal target for the health benefits of resveratrol.

By inhibiting PDE4, resveratrol triggers a series of events in a cell, one of which indirectly activates sirtuin 1.

To confirm that resveratrol attaches to and inhibits PDE proteins, Chung's group gave mice rolipram, a drug known to inhibit PDE4. Rolipram reproduced all of the biochemical effects and health benefits of resveratrol, such as preventing diet-induced obesity, improving glucose tolerance, and increasing physical endurance.

Chung noted that because resveratrol in its natural form interacts with many proteins, not just PDEs, it may cause not-yet-known toxicities as a medicine, particularly with long-term use.

He added that the levels of resveratrol found in wine or foods are likely not high enough to produce significant health benefits or problems.

Convincing clinical studies in humans have used about 1 gm of resveratrol per day, roughly equal to the amount found in 667 bottles of red wine.

The study results also suggest that inhibitors of PDE4 may offer the benefits of resveratrol without the potential toxicities arising from resveratrol's interactions with other proteins.

One PDE4 inhibitor called roflumilast has already been approved by the FDA for the treatment of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

"This result underscores the need for careful, well-controlled studies to illuminate how these natural products operate," said Robert Balaban, Ph.D., director of the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research.

"As Dr. Chung's work suggests, the effects of resveratrol seem to be more complicated than originally thought. However, this new insight into the phosphodiesterases might prove an interesting avenue to pursue," Balaban added.