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Aug 23
Your blood sample can tell what you are eating
If you are not strictly following the dietary recommendations advised by your doctor, you may no longer be able to fake it as researchers have found a way to measure adherence to diet from your blood sample.

It is possible to assess dietary compliance from a blood sample, showed the findings of the study conducted by Scandinavian researchers from various universities.

They were able to identify the study participants with the greatest apparent compliance to a healthy diet by testing for a set of diet-related biomarkers in the blood.

The study involved 154 participants who were advised to follow a healthy diet rich in berries, vegetables, fatty fish, canola oil and whole grains.

Several blood biomarkers were assessed to reflect the consumption of different key components of the diet.

These included serum alpha linoleic acid as a biomarker of canola oil consumption, plasma beta carotene as a biomarker for vegetable intake and plasma alkylresorcinols reflecting whole grain consumption.

"When investigating the health effects of whole diets, it is useful to measure multiple biomarkers reflecting the intake of different components of the diet," researchers said.

This way of assessing compliance may help to better detect changes in risk factors.

The universities of Uppsala, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Eastern Finland, Iceland, Lund, Oulu, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, as well as Kuopio and Oulu University hospitals in Finland participated in the study that appeared in the Journal of Nutrition.

Aug 22
Combining vaccines boosts polio immunity: Study
New research suggests a one-two punch could help battle polio in some of the world's most remote and conflict-torn regions: Giving a single vaccine shot to children who've already swallowed drops of an oral polio vaccine greatly boosted their immunity.

The World Health Organisation officials said the combination strategy already is starting to be used in mass vaccination campaigns in some hard-hit areas and is being introduced for routine immunizations in developing countries.

"It could play a major role in completing the job of polio eradication once and for all," said Dr. Hamid Jafari, WHO's director of polio operations, who led the study published today in the journal Science.

Oral polio vaccine has played a critical role in the nearly three-decade effort to eradicate the paralyzing disease, as health workers have gone house-to-house, to refugee camps and to roadside checkpoints delivering the drops.

The number of countries where polio regularly circulates dropped from 125 in 1988 to just three as of last year -- Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

But with travel, the threat is re-emerging in countries previously free of the highly contagious virus. The WHO in May declared an international public health emergency, citing outbreaks in at least 10 countries.

Particularly of concern were Syria, Somalia and Iraq, where violence has complicated efforts to contain new cases. Which vaccine to use in the eradication push has long been controversial.

They each have different strengths. The US and other wealthy countries have switched back to using only injected polio vaccine, which is made of "inactivated" or killed virus, for routine childhood immunizations after eradicating the disease within their borders.

That's because the oral vaccine contains weakened live virus that children can shed in their stools, which on very rare occasions can trigger a vaccine-caused case of polio.

The study involved nearly 1,000 children, from babies to 10-year-olds, in northern India in 2011, the last year that country reported a case of polio.

A similar study in 450 children in southern India last year reached the same conclusion, researchers reported in The Lancet last month.

And last December, Kenya put the strategy to its first real-world test.

Aug 22
Liberia president declares Ebola curfew
Liberia's president has declared a curfew and ordered security forces to quarantine a slum home to at least 50,000 people as the West African country battled to stop the spread of Ebola in the capital.

The measures came as authorities said yesterday that three health workers in the country who received an experimental drug for the disease are showing signs of recovery, though medical experts caution it is not certain if the drug is effective.

At least 1,229 people have died of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the current outbreak, and more than 2,240 have been sickened, according to the World Health Organisation.

The fastest rising number of cases has been reported in Liberia, with at least 466 dead.

Authorities here have struggled to treat and isolate the sick, in part because of widespread fear that treatment centres are places where people go to die. Many sick people have hidden in their homes, relatives have sometimes taken their loved ones away from health centres, and mobs have occasionally attacked health workers.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced late yesterday that a curfew is going into place from 9 pm to 6 am (local time). Security forces also will be ensuring no one goes in or out of West Point, a slum in the capital where angry residents attacked an Ebola observation centre over the weekend.

"We have been unable to control the spread due to continued denials, cultural burying practices, disregard for the advice of health workers and disrespect for the warnings by the government," she said. "As a result and due to the large population concentration the disease has spread widely in Monrovia and environs."

"May God bless us all and save the state," she later added.

Saturday's attack on the observation centre in West Point was triggered by fears that people with the disease were being brought there from all over the country, the Information Ministry said yesterday.

Dozens of people waiting to be screened for Ebola fled the centre during the chaos. Looters made off with items, including bloody sheets and mattresses that could further spread the virus.

Aug 21
New vaccine offers protection against tuberculosis, leprosy
In a breakthrough, US researchers have found that an improved tuberculosis vaccine can offer strong protection against leprosy.

"This is the first study demonstrating that an improved vaccine against tuberculosis also offers cross-protection against Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy," said Marcus A. Horwitz, a professor of medicine and microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics from University of California Los Angeles.

That means that this vaccine has promise for better protecting against both major diseases at the same time.

"It also demonstrates that boosting a recombinant BCG vaccine further improves cross-protection against leprosy," Horwitz added.

In many parts of the world, leprosy and tuberculosis live side-by-side.

Worldwide, there are approximately 233,000 new cases of leprosy per year, with nearly all of them occurring where tuberculosis is endemic.

The currently available century-old vaccine Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) provides only partial protection against both tuberculosis and leprosy.

In lab experiments over mice, researchers found that rBCG30, a recombinant variant of BCG that overexpresses a highly abundant 30 kDa protein of the tuberculosis bacterium known as Antigen 85B, is superior to BCG in protecting against tuberculosis in animal models, and also cross protects against leprosy.

In addition, they found that boosting rBCG30 with the antigen 85B protein - a protein also expressed by the leprosy bacillus - provides considerably stronger protection against leprosy.

The next step is to test the rBCG30 vaccine for efficacy in humans against TB.

"If it is effective against TB, then the next step would be to test its effectiveness in humans against leprosy," Horwitz noted in a paper published in the journal Infection and Immunity.

Aug 21
Centre directs Meghalaya to ban all forms of smokeless tobacco
The Centre has directed Meghalaya and two other states in the North East region to impose ban on all forms of processed/flavoured smokeless tobacco to save people from oral cancer, an official said today.

"Please pass necessary notification under Regulation 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to implement the ban on all forms of processed/flavoured/scented chewing tobacco," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a letter to Chief Minister Mukul Sangma recently, the official said.

Similar instructions were also issued to the chief ministers of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh.

Seeking to report to the Ministry after passing the order in this regard, Vardhan said this is to ensure safe and wholesome food to people which was also endorsed by the Allahabad High Court that tobacco is food.

The Union Minister, however, said all forms of tobacco causes oral cancer and the ban would save people of Meghalaya in particular and the region in general from the dreadful effect.

According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), 2010 conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in association with the World Health Organisation (WHO), 55 per cent population of Meghalaya consume tobacco in some form or other, while national consumption rate of tobacco products is 34 per cent.

"The substances, whether going by the name or form of gutkha, zarda, may be banned under provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006," Vardhan said in his letter earlier this month.

"Smokeless tobacco is the most prevalent form with 206 million Indians using it as such consequent burden of mortality and morbidity due to consumption of smokeless tobacco is very high in India," he said.

The Union health minister also stated that sweet-flavoured processed smokeless tobacco is attracting vulnerable groups like women and children.

Meanwhile, Health and Family Welfare Commissioner and Secretary M R Synrem said that the state has banned gutka and pan masala.

Aug 20
Taking antibiotics at early age could strengthen immunity
A new study has claimed that consumption of antibiotics in early life can increase human body's long-term defense against specific diseases.

According to the research by New University of British Columbia, most bacteria living in the gut play a positive role in promoting a healthy immune system, but antibiotic treatments often do not discriminate between good and bad bacteria. The study helped scientists understand how different antibiotics affect good bacteria.

The researchers tested the impact of two antibiotics, vancomycin and streptomycin, on newborn mice. They found that streptomycin increased susceptibility to a disease known as hypersensitivity pneumonitis later in life, but vancomycin had no effect. The difference in each antibiotic's long-term effects can be attributed to how they changed the bacterial ecosystem in the gut. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is an allergic disease found in people with occupations such as farming, sausage-making, and cleaning hot tubs.

The researchers stress that infants should be treated with antibiotics when needed, but they hope these results would help pinpoint which bacteria makes people less susceptible to disease. It could open up the possibility of boosting helpful bacteria through the use of probiotics.

The study is published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Aug 20
BP pills not the reason for falling, fracturing bones
A new study has recently revealed that people taking intensive blood pressure medication are not prone to falling and breaking bones.

Study on patients with type 2 diabetes examined fracture risk with antihypertensive treatment. The results showed that patients who received intensive blood pressure treatment did not fall more than less intensively treated patients, nor did they incur more fractures over an average follow-up of about five years.

Evidence from various clinical trials has shown that cardiovascular events such as strokes could be prevented by treating high blood pressure (hypertension). However, physicians and patients still often express concern that its tight control might increase a person's risk of low blood pressure (hypotension) and subsequent falls and fractures.

The research was ACCORD-BONE, an ancillary study of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) randomized trial, which tested how more intensive treatment of blood sugar, blood pressure and lipids affected cardiovascular disease outcomes in people with diabetes. Participants in the ACCORD-BONE study were, on average, about 62 years old; none were 80 or older.

Karen Margolis, MD, said that lowering blood pressure using intensive treatment compared with standard treatment did not result in an increased rate of falls or fractures and, in fact, showed possible trends towards fewer fractures in the intensively treated patients.

She further added that although intensive blood pressure treatment to the low levels in ACCORD did not lower cardiovascular events, their results suggested a need to carefully reconsider current thinking about whether antihypertensive treatment and blood pressure lowering increases risk for falls and fractures.

The study appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer.

Aug 19
24 listeria cases detected in Denmark
At least 24 cases of listeria bacteria infection have been detected in Denmark, health authorities said Monday.

According to the State Serum Institute (SSI), the number includes four more Danish people, who were confirmed to have been infected with listeria, Xinhua reported.

A Hedehusene-based sausage company has proved to be the main source of the infection, the institute said.

Although the company is closed and all suspected products have been recalled. SSI expects that more cases may continue to pop up in the coming weeks as it typically takes several weeks for symptoms to surface.

A total of 12 people have been believed to be died as a result of the listeria outbreak so far.

Some 30 products, including variations of cold cut sausages, salami and hot dogs have been withdrawn from the market.

Regulatory control over listeria is now tightened, ministry of food, agriculture and fisheries said.

Listeria is a bacteria found in soil, water and in the intestines of some animals.

The bacteria can also live in food processing plants and unlike other germs, it can survive refrigeration.

Symptoms of listeria include weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and fever.

Aug 19
Preventive steps can control non-communicable diseases: WHO
Many young people are succumbing to non-communicable diseases in south-east Asia and the best way to control it is to take preventive steps like reducing salt intake and raising taxes on tobacco, the WHO said Monday.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory diseases, are the world's most common, causing two out of every three deaths globally.

NCDs kill 8.5 million people annually in south-east Asian regions. Of these, 4.2 million deaths are considered premature.

In order to achieve the targets, the World Health Organisation (WHO) emphasized the importance of implementing evidence-based, cost-effective interventions - the "Best Buys" - to prevent and control NCDs.

"Some examples of 'Best Buy' interventions for the prevention and control of NCDs include raising tax on tobacco and alcohol products, reducing salt consumption, eliminating trans-fat in the food supply chain, promoting physical activity and detecting and treating NCDs at an early stage," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director for WHO south-east Asia.

"Wide-scale implementation of these 'Best Buys' requires coordinated action. Ministries of health and non-health ministries - such as finance, transport, sports, education, agriculture, and food safety, among others - must work together. This requires the highest level of political commitment, resolve and response," said Khetrapal Singh.

The WHO is supporting countries to adopt the "whole-of-government" and "whole-of-society" approaches to combat NCDs, because working together is our "best buy" for a healthier future, she said in a statement.

The WHO is highlighting this pressing need to forge and strengthen multi-sectoral partnerships to curb the rising burden of NCDs by bringing together policy makers and health experts from 11 member states of the south Asia at a regional consultation in Bangalore Aug 18-20.

Aug 18
Mother's milk vital for premature babies
Incorporating human milk fat supplement into premature infants' diets improves their growth outcomes in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), says a new study.

"For premature babies who weigh less than a kg, one of the problems is that their lungs and other organs are still developing when they are born," said Amy Hair, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine in the US.

"If the infant gains weight and increases in length at a good rate while in the NICU, this helps improve their (growth) outcomes," Hair added.

Previous research has shown that an exclusive human milk diet protects the intestines of premature infants and supports their growth.

This diet consists of mothers' own breast milk or donor human milk, as well as a fortifier consisting of protein and minerals made from the donor milk.

In this study, researchers sought a way to optimise growth in infants who weigh between 750 and 1,250 grams and need additional calories.

As infants are already receiving enough protein from the fortifier, another way to help them grow is by giving them fat. One of the byproducts of pasteurising donor milk is milk fat, also referred to as a cream supplement.

They found that infants in the cream group had better growth outcomes in terms of weight and length than infants in the control group.

The study appeared in the Journal of Pediatrics.

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