Chilean researchers are developing a vaccine against alcoholism that could be tested on humans starting next year and works by neutralizing an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol.

The genetic therapy is based on aldehyde dehydrogenase, a group of enzymes that metabolize alcohol and are thus responsible for alcohol tolerance, said Juan Asenjo, who heads a team of researchers at Chile's Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics and the private lab Recalcine.

About 20 percent of the Asian population lacks this enzyme and thus experience "such a strong reaction that it discourages consumption," he added.

The vaccine would similarly increase unease, nausea and tachycardia (accelerated heart beat).

"With the vaccine, the desire to consume alcohol will be greatly reduced thanks to these reactions," Asenjo told Radio Cooperativa.

Researchers have already successfully tested the vaccine on rats who were dependent on alcohol, and got them to halve their consumption.

"The idea is to have 90-95 percent reduction of consumption for humans," Asenjo said.

It would work like patches or pills that help smokers kick the habit, but with better efficiency by specifically targeting liver cells and avoiding collateral effects on all cells.

This year, researchers plan to focus on mass production of virus cells and conduct tests on animals to determine proper dosage before launching human tests in 2012.

In October, US researchers announced they had discovered a gene variation known as CYP2EI that can protect against alcoholism and could lead to a preventative treatment.

Early detection & prevention: Healthcare IT. www.siemens.com/answers

London, Jan 7 (IANS) Green tea could be a far more powerful medicine for fighting cancer and dementia, experts have claimed.

Scientists were astounded at how effectively compounds within the drink, once they reached the gut, protected cells from attack, reports express.co.uk.

The green tea not only battled against toxins that allow plaques to build up in the brain, which lead to Alzheimer's, but it also stopped cancer cells from dividing.

The research by Newcastle University was carried out only on cells in a laboratory but scientists insist this provides an insight into how the tea will work in our bodies.

Ed Okello, from the university's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: 'What was really exciting about this study was that we found, when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer's development than the undigested form of the tea.'

'In addition, we found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of the tumour cells which we were using in our experiments,' he added.

The only problem with the results is the huge amounts of green tea should be drunk to gain the same effects.

But Okello pointed out : 'There are many factors that together have an influence on diseases such as cancer and dementia - a good diet, plenty of exercise and a healthy lifestyle are all important.'

'But it's fair to say that at least one cup of green tea every day may be good for you and I would certainly recommend it,' he added.

Going bald? Blame stem cell inactivation, say researchers.

A new study, led by George Cotsarelis of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has found that stem cells do play an unexpected role in explaining what happens in bald scalp, the 'Journal of Clinical Investigation' reported.

Using cell samples from men undergoing hair transplant, the researchers compared follicles from bald scalp and non-bald scalp, and found that bald areas had the same number of stem cells as normal scalp in the same person.

However, they did find that another, more mature cell type called a progenitor cell was markedly depleted in the follicles of bald scalp.

The researchers surmised that balding may arise from a problem with stem-cell activation rather than the numbers of stem cells in follicles. In male pattern balding, hair follicles actually shrink; they don't disappear. The hairs are essentially microscopic on the bald part of the scalp compared to other spots.

"We asked: 'Are stem cells depleted in bald scalp?' We were surprised to find the number of stem cells was the same in the bald part of the scalp compared with other places, but did find a difference in the abundance of a specific type of cell, thought to be a progenitor cell.

"This implies that there is a problem in the activation of stem cells converting to progenitor cells in bald scalp," Cotsarelis said.

At this point, the researchers don't know why there is a breakdown in this conversion. "However, the fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bald scalp gives us hope for reactivating those stem cells," said Cotsarelis.

In 2007, the researchers found that hair follicles in adult mice regenerate by re-awakening genes once active only in developing embryos.

In the latest study, the team also found a progenitor cell population in mice that is analogous to the human cells; these cells were able to make hair follicles and grow hair when injected into an immunodeficient mice.

The researchers say their next steps will be to study the stem and progenitor populations in other types of hair loss, including female pattern hair loss.

The information may assist in developing cell-based treatments for male pattern balding by isolating stem cells and expanding them to add back to the scalp directly.

They will also focus on identifying factors that could be used topically to convert stem cells to progenitor cells to generate normal large hairs.

The research was funded in part by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; the Pennsylvania Department of Health; the Fannie Gray Hall Center for Human Appearance; and L'Oreal.

Chubbiness in babies may be a sign of good health, but it may also be a warning sign of obesity in early childhood.

In a newly published study, babies who weighed the most at the age of 9 months tended to be among the heaviest when they reached age 2.

The study is among the first to track the weight of a nationally representative sample of very young children; researchers say it suggests that even babies are not exempt from the obesity epidemic.

"We are certainly not saying that overweight babies are doomed to be obese adults," study researcher Brian Moss, PhD, of Detroit's Wayne State University tells WebMD. "But we did find some evidence that being overweight at 9 months of age is a predictor of being overweight or obese later in childhood."
Heavy Baby, Heavy Kid?

Since there is no accepted measure of obesity in very young children, Moss and colleagues considered kids in the study to be at risk for becoming obese if their weight was in the 85th to 95th percentile on standard growth charts.

For the purposes of the study, babies and 2-year-olds whose weight was above the 95th percentile were considered obese.

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, the researchers tracked the weight of around 7,500 children at age 9 months and 2 years. The children were born in 2001.

They concluded that around 32% of the children were either at risk for becoming obese or were obese at the age of 9 months and 34% were at risk or obese by the age of 2.

Children who were considered obese at the age of 9 months had the highest risk for being obese at age 2.

Forty-four percent of babies who met the study's definition of obese remained obese at age 2. The overall percentage of children considered obese increased from 17% at 9 months to 20% at age 2.

Hispanic children and children living in low-income families had the highest risk for obesity at both time points. At age 2, 40% of children living in the lowest income homes were obese or at risk for obesity, compared to 27% of children living in the highest income homes.

And 40% of Hispanic children were obese or at risk, compared to 31% of whites and 35% of blacks.

The study appears in the January-February 2011 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Expert: 'Keep Junk Food Out of Diet'

While baby fat may prove to be a predictor of being overweight in childhood, no one is suggesting putting babies on diets.

Childhood obesity expert Joyce Lee, MD, of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, says babies who are exclusively breastfed or bottle-fed should never be denied the breast or bottle.

Once solid foods are introduced, however, Lee says parents can and should make healthy choices for their children.

"These days, children are introduced to junk food at earlier and earlier ages," she says. "I know of 9-month-olds who eat French fries. "

She says keeping junk foods out of young children's diets and including lots of fruits and vegetables can have a big impact on a young child's weight.

Lee is an assistant professor in pediatric endocrinology and health services research at the University of Michigan.

"You can't tell a 9-month-old or a 2-year-old to eat right and exercise more, but you can make healthy choices for them," she says.

Italian researchers have confirmed that diets rich in leafy green vegetables and olive oil are vital for heart health. Dr. Domenico Palli from the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute in Florence and his colleagues discovered that women who eat at least one serving of leafy greens a day are 46 percent less likely to develop heart disease than women who eat less. And those who consume at least three tablespoons of olive oil a day earn roughly the same benefit.

"Probably the mechanisms responsible for the protective effect of plant-origin foods on cardiovascular diseases involve micronutrients such as folate, antioxidant vitamins and potassium, all present in green leafy vegetables," explained Palli to Reuters Health, confirming what previous studies on the "Mediterranean Diet" have already found.

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study collected data from about 30,000 Italian women and tracked their health over the course of eight years. They then correlated cases of heart disease to dietary habits and found that the amount of olive oil and leafy green vegetables consumed is directly correlated to heart health.

Besides improving heart health, eating a diet rich in vegetables and olive oil has been shown to prevent and treat type-2 diabetes, reduce the risk of breast cancer, maintain healthy weight and prevent obesity, prevent and treat prostate cancer, prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, and even lengthen lifespan (http://www.naturalnews.com/mediterr...).

"It appears that the various components of the Mediterranean Diet do promote lower inflammation, oxidative stress, and serum protein levels, which in turn lower risk for vascular problems that can contribute to brain aging -- hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, dyslipidemia, and diabetes," explain Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George in their book