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Aug 18
A baby's first 1,000 days 'determines their health prospects for life'
You have encouraged them to eat their greens, battled to get them into the best school and sweated with them over their homework - all to give them the best start in life.

But your children's prospects may have been determined long before all the hard work.

A growing body of research suggests the first 1,000 days of a child's life - the nine months in the womb and the first two years out of it - are vital to their long-term health

That period can permanently affect everything from a child's chances of developing diabetes or having a heart attack in old age, to their future weight and life expectancy.

The theory was developed after decades of research by Professor David Barker and his colleagues at Southampton University.

They believe there are a series of critical stages in a child's development. If conditions are not perfect at each step, problems can occur later.

Many of these danger points lie when the baby is still in the womb. Poor nutrition for a mother affects both the unborn baby's weight and how well the placenta works, while smoking, stress, drugs and alcohol can also take their toll.

Professor Barker believes many health problems can be traced back to poor growth in the womb.

He has shown that the lighter a baby is at birth, the higher its odds of heart disease in later life. On average, a baby weighing less than 5lb 7oz is twice as likely to die from a heart attack than one born at 9lb 7oz.

It is thought that when food is scarce in the womb, it is channelled to the fledgling brain, leaving the heart weakened. The seeds of diabetes may also be sown before birth, as the pancreatic cells which make insulin develop in the womb. Conditions in the uterus can also affect weight for years to come, studies suggest.

Professor Barker said many of these early effects are 'set in stone' and cannot be undone. He added that the key to health is ensuring women eat well throughout their lives.

He said: 'It is about building a body that the baby can live off. The baby lives off the mother's body - not what she snacks on during pregnancy.

'What we are seeing is a window of opportunity where we can make better people.'

Aug 17
Healing hands behind Anna
Doctors, students and staff members of AIIMS, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge Medical College held candle-light marches in the Capital

Among millions of others joining the Anna Hazare-led protest is the Capital's medical fraternity. The civil society activist, who was arrested in the morning on Tuesday, has attracted a mass following in the last few weeks.

On Tuesday, doctors from various government hospitals participated in a candle-light march, to protest against the government's decision to detain Anna. The protestors included medical practitioners, students and other staff members of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge medical College (LHMC). A candle-light march was organised in respective campuses as well. Doctors said if Anna was not released by tomorrow, they might go on a strike.

"We have a general body meeting in our hospital tomorrow and the same will be conducted in other hospitals as well. We will join in full strength to support Anna. Initially, we will organise candle light march. If he is not released by tomorrow, all of us, including doctors from each and every hospital, might go on a strike," said Dr Anurag Mishra, president, Resident Doctors Association (RDA), Maulana Azad Medical College.

"We will go to India Gate to join the movement and gather as many doctors as possible," said Dr Nitin Rajasingh, president, RDA, LHMC. "More than 100 doctors participated in the march today. We are sure that tomorrow there will be more," said Dr Sumit Budani, president, Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA).

"We may not agree with either side entirely, but we do believe in the need for a corruption-free society. This is the first time someone has dared to raise a voice against a prevalent evil. Let's join in," said Dr Debjyoti Karmakar, president, RDA, AIIMS.

Aug 16
Cancer scares people more than any other disease
A poll of more than 2,000 adults has found that people fear cancer more than any other disease.

The survey revealed that 35 per cent of people fear cancer while 25 per cent are mostly worried about developing Alzheimer's disease.

Just 3 per cent are concerned about heart disease more than other illnesses, while 5 per cent are worried about stroke.

"It's understandable why so many people fear cancer among other diseases," the Scotsman quoted Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, as saying.

"Yet people should be reassured that we are doing all we can to find new treatments for the disease," added Walker. (ANI)

Aug 16
Addiction is chronic brain disease, not just bad behaviour or bad choices
A new definition of addiction released by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has highlighted that addiction is a chronic brain disorder and not simply a behavioural problem involving too much alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex.

This the first time ASAM has taken an official position that addiction is not solely related to problematic substance use.

When people see compulsive and damaging behaviours in friends or family members - or public figures such as celebrities or politicians - they often focus only on the substance use or behaviours as the problem.

However, these outward behaviours are actually manifestations of an underlying disease that involves various areas of the brain, according to the new definition by ASAM, the nation's largest professional society of physicians dedicated to treating and preventing addiction.

"At its core, addiction isn't just a social problem or a moral problem or a criminal problem. It's a brain problem whose behaviours manifest in all these other areas," said Dr. Michael Miller, past president of ASAM who oversaw the development of the new definition.

"Many behaviours driven by addiction are real problems and sometimes criminal acts. But the disease is about brains, not drugs. It's about underlying neurology, not outward actions," he added.

* The new definition also recognizes addiction as a chronic disease, like cardiovascular disease or diabetes, so it must be treated, managed and monitored over a lifetime.

Aug 16
From cold to HIV, this drug can fight any viral infection
In what might be the greatest medical discovery since penicillin, scientists have developed a broad-spectrum drug which they claim can cure everything - from the common cold to HIV to almost any other virus one can think of.

A team of researchers at the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US created the drug, known by the acronym DRACO, which homes in on infected cells and makes them self-destructive .

Its hit list includes human rhinoviruses - the bugs that causes colds in adults and in children - flu, polio, a stomach bug and deadly dengue fever.

But DRACO is also expected to zap measles and German measles, cold sores, rabies and even HIV - and could be on pharmacy shelves in a decade, the Daily Mail reported.

Lead researcher Mike Rider said, "It's certainly possible that there's some virus that we aren't able to treat but we haven't found it yet." In lab tests, DRACO killed 15 viruses.

It also saved the lives of mice given a dose of flu that would have killed them.

Aug 16
No Evidence That Aspirin Improves IVF Success
There is no evidence that aspirin therapy during in vitro fertilization (IVF) increases a woman's chances of becoming pregnant, according to an updated systematic review published August 10 in The Cochrane Library.

Aspirin is often prescribed to improve the outcome of women undergoing IVF "despite inconsistent evidence of its efficacy," Charalambos Siristatidis, MD, of the Assisted Reproduction Unit at the University of Athens in Greece, and colleagues note in their review.

They say use of aspirin for this purpose "cannot be recommended due to lack of evidence from the current trial data" and note that "[a]dequately powered trials are needed."

In an interview with Medscape Medical News, Roger Lobo, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University in New York City and current president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said it's unlikely such trials would ever be conducted. "There's really no incentive.

"Empirically using aspirin in IVF has been batted around for a long time," Dr. Lobo said. "This meta-analysis combines the existing evidence and confirms that aspirin isn't likely to be of any major benefit in women undergoing IVF." Dr. Lobo did not participate in the Cochrane Review.

More Data; Same Conclusion

Research on the use of aspirin during IVF and other assisted reproduction techniques has yielded mixed results. Some studies suggest that aspirin therapy improves pregnancy rates; others suggest it may increase the risk for miscarriage.

A 2007 Cochrane Review examined data from 9 randomized controlled trials involving a total of 1449 women undergoing IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Participants were treated with low-dose aspirin (≤150 mg once daily) or placebo or no treatment.

The reviewers found that women taking aspirin during IVF or ICSI were not significantly more likely to become pregnant than women in the controls groups. In addition, no significant difference in live birth rates existed between the aspirin and the control groups.

The findings of the updated 2011 Cochrane review mirror those of the 2007 review.

"Based on the available evidence, we reached the same conclusion as the initial version of the review. No single outcome measure demonstrated a benefit with the use of aspirin," the authors report.

The latest review of aspirin therapy with IVF included 13 randomized controlled trials in a total of 2653 women undergoing IVF of ICSI.

The trials compared aspirin (≤150 mg once daily) vs placebo or no treatment, taken either preconceptually or at different stages of the treatment cycle (eg, during down-regulation, during stimulation of ovulation, after egg collection, or after confirmation of pregnancy by a pregnancy test or ultrasonography).

"Aspirin treatment given for varying lengths of time was considered (for example up to different points in the treatment cycle; until confirmation of pregnancy; up to 12 weeks, 34 weeks gestation or delivery)," the authors note.

In the pooled analysis, there was no evidence of an improvement in live birth rate with aspirin (relative risk [RR], 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 - 1.15) or in the clinical pregnancy rate (RR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.91 - 1.17).

There was also no evidence of an effect of aspirin on multiple pregnancy rates (RR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.38 - 1.46), ectopic rates (RR, 1.86; 95% CI, 0.75 - 4.63), and miscarriage rates (RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.68 - 1.77), although these findings are based on data from a limited number of studies, the authors note.

Embryo Quality Major Factor in Success

The authors note that one of the largest studies included in the updated review reported on 298 women and showed some benefit in clinical pregnancy rate; 45% of the population using aspirin became pregnant compared with 28% of the control population, yielding a 17% improvement with aspirin.

Nonetheless, they conclude that aspirin for the purpose of improving IVF outcomes cannot be recommended.

Dr. Lobo made the point that "the major factor influencing pregnancy is embryo quality; if you've got a good embryo, aspirin is not going to improve upon that. The theory is that aspirin improves blood flow and the [uterine] lining and so forth, but those aren't major factors in someone with routine infertility," he added.

Despite a lack of evidence of benefit, aspirin is commonly used in women undergoing IVF, Dr. Lobo told Medscape Medical News.

"Many people are grasping at straws, trying everything, so it is used empirically, but this new report pretty much tells us that it is not of value. And there are some downside risks, such as bleeding, even though the doses are low. I think there are more risks than benefits at this point," he concluded.

Aug 10
Virus that kills HIV-infected cells created
A USC scientist has created a virus that hunts down HIV-infected cells, which could herald a breakthrough toward curing the disease.

Dr Pin Wang's lentiviral vector latches onto HIV-infected cells, flagging them with what is called "suicide gene therapy" - allowing drugs to later target and destroy them.

"If you deplete all of the HIV-infected cells, you can at least partially solve the problem," said Wang, chemical engineering professor with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

The lentiviral vector approach to targeting HIV has the advantage of avoiding collateral damage, keeping cells that are not infected by HIV out of harm's way.

Wang said such accuracy has not been achieved by using drugs alone.

So far, the lentiviral vector has only been tested in culture dishes and has resulted in the destruction of about 35 percent of existing HIV cells.

Aug 09
Exercise a 'Wonder Drug' for Cancer Survival
Cancer patients can reduce the risks of side effects and cancer recurrence by exercising regularly, a new report shows.

The report, "Move More: Physical activity the underrated 'wonder drug,'"from Macmillan Cancer Support in the U.K., says that 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week, the amount recommended by the U.K.'s four chief medical officers, is the minimum amount required to see the benefits.

Moderate intensity activity includes exercise such as cycling and very brisk walking, but also household tasks such as heavy cleaning and mowing the lawn.

The report presents four key findings:

1. Breast cancer patients' risk of recurrence and of dying from the disease can be reduced by up to 40% by doing 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week.
2. Bowel cancer patients' risk of recurrence and dying from the disease can be reduced by up to 50% by doing significant amounts of physical activity; this means about six hours of moderate intensity physical activity per week.
3. Prostate cancer patients' risk of dying from the disease can be reduced by up to 30% by doing the recommended 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity.

After treatment, all cancer patients can reduce their risk of side effects from cancer and its treatment, including fatigue, depression, osteoporosis, and heart disease, by doing the recommended levels of physical activity.

Many Health Professionals Unaware of Benefits:

However, despite strong emerging evidence that being physically active could dramatically improve cancer patients' recovery and long-term health, a Macmillan online survey of 400 health professionals who deal with cancer patients found that many are not aware of this and most are not talking to their patients about it. Over half of the primary care doctors, nurses, and oncologists surveyed do not speak to their cancer patients about the benefits of physical activity, or at best they speak to just a few of them.

Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, says, "Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long-term health, in some cases reducing their chances of having to go through the grueling ordeal of treatment all over again."


Exercise Not Just an Add-on to Care:

According to Jane Maher, chief medical officer of Macmillan Cancer Support, "The advice I would previously have given to one of my patients would have been to 'take it easy.' This has now changed significantly because of the recognition that, if physical exercise were a drug, it would be hitting the headlines. There really needs to be a cultural change so that health professionals see physical activity as an integral part of cancer after-care, not just an optional add-on."

Aug 08
Cyberstalking 'more dangerous than traditional bullying'
Victims of cyberstalking suffer more than victims of 'traditional' bullying, research shows.

The inability to escape from the 24 hour online world and the public nature of threats posted on the internet make being bullied electronically more intense, it was claimed.

The research also found that four out of ten women have suffered electronic harassment after dating online and 20 per cent of online stalkers use social networking to stalk their victims.

Addressing the American Psychological Association's Annual Convention, Elizabeth Carll said: "Increasingly, stalkers use modern technology to monitor and torment their victims, and one in four victims report some form of cyberstalking, such as threatening emails or instant messaging."

Victims may feel stress, anxiety, fear and nightmares, as well as enduring eating and sleeping difficulties, she said.

Dr Carll, of the APA Media Psychology Division, "It is my observation that the symptoms related to cyberstalking and e-harassment may be more intense than in-person harassment, as the impact is more devastating due to the 24/7 nature of online communication, inability to escape to a safe place, and global access of the information."

Some 850,000 adults, mainly female, are the targets of cyberstalking in America each year.

But she said that the strengths of the internet currently being exploited by the bullies could be turned against them.

She said: "The same technologies used to harass can also be used to intervene and prevent harassment.

"Imagine a cell phone application that can tell you if someone threatening you is nearby. That could be life-saving."

Police forces and social services should do more to use electronic methods to stop online harassment, she argued.

The talk came after research showed 36 per cent of students at schools in South Korea had been bullied online at least once in the previous year.

Dr YeoJu Chung, of Kyungil University, said: "The results revealed that cyberbullying makes students socially anxious, lonely, frustrated, sad and helpless.

"Lots of adolescents have trouble recovering from negative effects of cyberbullying.

"We can help them use emotion regulation skills to recover, rather than become bullies themselves."

Aug 08
Now, a sausage skin that cures diabetes
British scientists have developed an implanted sleeve that looks like a giant sausage skin, which they claim can cure diabetes.

A team, led by Dr. John Mason of the Trafford Healthcare National Health Service Trust U.K., says that the two-feet-long device can reverse diabetes within weeks - in fact, it acts as an incision-less alternative to a weight loss surgery known as duodenal switch.

The duodenum is the name for the first 10 to 12 inches of the small intestine, which attaches to the stomach.

The new device, called the EndoBarrier, is designed to have the same effects as the surgery but far safer. It is a plastic sleeve that lines the duodenum, meaning food can only be absorbed lower down the intestine.

The procedure is performed under anaesthetic in less than an hour. The sleeve - made from a thin plastic - is inserted via the mouth and passed into the digestive tract using a thin tube, the Daily Mail reported.

Once in place, a sprung titanium anchor prevents it slipping out. It is removed after a year. During trials researchers found that in obese patients who also suffered diabetes, the disease went into remission.

The discovery has led to clinical trials at three British hospitals, which found the implant also lowers cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

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