Eating food, which contains even a small amount of nicotine, like peppers and tomatoes, may help reduce risk of developing Parkinson`s disease, a new study has claimed.

According to the research, Solanaceae-a flowering plant family with some species producing foods that are edible sources of nicotine-may provide a protective effect against Parkinson`s disease.

Parkinson`s disease is a movement disorder that is caused by loss of brain cells that produce dopamine. Its symptoms include facial, hand, arm, and leg tremors, stiffness in the limbs, loss of balance, and slower overall movement.

For the present population-based study Dr. Susan Searles Nielsen and her colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle recruited 490 patients newly diagnosed with Parkinson`s disease at the university`s Neurology Clinic or a regional health maintenance organization, Group Health Cooperative.

Another 644 unrelated people without neurological conditions were used as controls.

Questionnaires were used to assess their lifetime diets and tobacco use, which researchers defined as ever smoking more than 100 cigarettes or regularly using cigars, pipes or smokeless tobacco.

Vegetable consumption in general did not affect Parkinson`s disease risk, but as consumption of edible Solanaceae increased, Parkinson`s disease risk decreased, with peppers displaying the strongest association.

Researchers noted that the apparent protection from Parkinson`s occurred mainly in men and women with little or no prior use of tobacco, which contains much more nicotine than the foods studied.

Nielsen said that similar to the many studies that indicate tobacco use might reduce risk of Parkinson`s, their findings suggests a protective effect from nicotine, or perhaps a similar but less toxic chemical in peppers and tobacco.
The study has been published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.

Johns Hopkins researchers believe they may have solved the mystery behind sleepless nights associated with restless legs syndrome (RLS), a symptom that persists even when the disruptive, overwhelming nocturnal urge to move the legs is treated successfully with medication.

Neurologists have long believed RLS is related to a dysfunction in the way the brain uses the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical used by brain cells to communicate and produce smooth, purposeful muscle activity and movement.
Disruption of these neurochemical signals, characteristic of Parkinson`s disease, frequently results in involuntary movements. Drugs that increase dopamine levels are mainstay treatments for RLS, but studies have shown they don`t significantly improve sleep.

The small new study, headed by Richard P. Allen, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, used MRI to image the brain and found glutamate - a neurotransmitter involved in arousal - in abnormally high levels in people with RLS. The more glutamate the researchers found in the brains of those with RLS, the worse their sleep.

"We may have solved the mystery of why getting rid of patients` urge to move their legs doesn`t improve their sleep. We may have been looking at the wrong thing all along, or we may find that both dopamine and glutamate pathways play a role in RLS," Allen said.

For the study, Allen and his colleagues examined MRI images and recorded glutamate activity in the thalamus, the part of the brain involved with the regulation of consciousness, sleep and alertness.

They looked at images of 28 people with RLS and 20 people without. The RLS patients included in the study had symptoms six to seven nights a week persisting for at least six months, with an average of 20 involuntary movements a night or more.

The researchers then conducted two-day sleep studies in the same individuals to measure how much rest each person was getting. In those with RLS, they found that the higher the glutamate level in the thalamus, the less sleep the subject got. They found no such association in the control group without RLS.

Previous studies have shown that even though RLS patients average less than 5.5 hours of sleep per night, they rarely report problems with excessive daytime sleepiness. Allen said the lack of daytime sleepiness is likely related to the role of glutamate, too much of which can put the brain in a state of hyperarousal - day or night.

If confirmed, the study`s results may change the way RLS is treated, Allen said, potentially erasing the sleepless nights that are the worst side effect of the condition.

Dopamine-related drugs currently used in RLS do work, but many patients eventually lose the drug benefit and require ever higher doses. When the doses get too high, the medication actually can make the symptoms much worse than before treatment.

As more is understood about this neurobiology, the findings may not only apply to RLS, he said, but also to some forms of insomnia .

The findings are published in the May issue of the journal Neurology.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has removed India from the list of countries with active endemic wild poliovirus transmission.

In written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury said Polio free is certified for WHO regions by the Regional Certification Commission and not for individual country.

The South-East Asia Regional Commission for Polio Eradication (SEA-RCCPE) has examined the data of 31 states/Union Territories of India and has accepted the report of the Indian National Certification Committee for Polio Eradication and has concluded that the wild polio virus is not circulating in these states.

Each region can consider certification only when all countries in the area demonstrate the absence of wild poliovirus transmission for at least three consecutive years in the presence of certification standard surveillance.

In addition, all facilities holding wild poliovirus infectious and potentially infectious materials must have implemented bio-containment measures for laboratory containment of wild poliovirus.

A task force for laboratory containment of wild polioviruses has been constituted. The first phase of laboratory containment started by surveying laboratory to identify laboratory with wild poliovirus, infectious materials or potential wild poliovirus infectious materials and encourage them for destruction of all unneeded materials.

All States/UTs have been communicated about the successful interruption of wild poliovirus transmission in India and the possible certification in 2014 and requested for political and administrative support required for completion of laboratory containment activities in their respective States.

Support of WHOs National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP) is also being obtained to survey all laboratories in their database and provide information of the Laboratories to the Task Force.

An inventory of laboratories/Institutes of Department of Bio Technology (DBT) / Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS)/ National Institute of Information Technology (NIITs), databases of bio-medical laboratories in Department of Health Research (DHR), bio-tech laboratories in Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) database has been prepared for information on storage of potentially infectious material.

Adding the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, or both to a formulation of antioxidant vitamins and minerals that has shown effectiveness in reducing risk of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) did not further help reduce the risk, a new study has found.

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, according to background information in the article.

Without more effective ways of slowing progression, the number of persons with advanced AMD is expected to double over the next 20 years, resulting in increasing socioeconomic burden, the researchers wrote.

"Oral supplementation with the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) formulation (antioxidant vitamins C, E, and beta carotene and zinc) has been shown to reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD. Observational data suggest that increased dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin, omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] and eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA]), or both might further reduce this risk," they said.

Emily Y. Chew, M.D., of the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues with the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) Research Group examined whether adding lutein + zeaxanthin, DHA + EPA, or both to the AREDS formulation might further reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD.

A secondary goal was to evaluate the effect of eliminating beta carotene, lowering zinc doses, or both in the AREDS formulation. AREDS2, a multicenter, randomized phase 3 study was conducted in 2006-2012, enrolling 4,203 participants 50 to 85 years of age at risk for progression to advanced AMD with bilateral large drusen (tiny yellow or white deposits in the retina of the eye or on the optic nerve head) or large drusen in 1 eye and advanced AMD in the fellow eye.

Participants were randomized to receive lutein (10 mg) and zeaxanthin (2 mg), DHA (350 mg) + EPA (650 mg), lutein + zeaxanthin and DHA + EPA, or placebo. All participants were also asked to take the original AREDS formulation or accept a secondary randomization to 4 variations of the AREDS formulation, including elimination of beta carotene, lowering of zinc dose, or both.

A total of 1,608 participants had experienced at least 1 advanced AMD event by the end of the study (1,940 events in 6,891 study eyes). The researchers found that the probabilities of progression to advanced AMD by 5 years were 31 percent for placebo, 29 percent for lutein + zeaxanthin, 31 percent for DHA + EPA, and 30 percent for lutein + zeaxanthin and DHA + EPA. In the primary analyses, comparisons with placebo demonstrated no statistically significant reductions in progression to advanced AMD.

"There was no apparent effect of beta carotene elimination or lower-dose zinc on progression to advanced AMD. More lung cancers were noted in the beta carotene vs. no beta carotene group (23 [2 percent] vs. 11 [0.9 percent]), mostly in former smokers," the authors wrote.

None of the nutrients affected development of moderate or worse vision loss.

The researchers added, "these null results may be attributable to the true lack of efficacy. Other factors to consider include inadequate dose, inadequate duration of treatment, or both."

"Based on apparent risks of beta carotene and possible benefits that are only evident within exploratory subgroup analyses, lutein + zeaxanthin requires further investigation for potential inclusion in the AREDS supplements."

The study has been published online by JAMA to coincide with its presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.

In a landmark surgery in the UAE, a hospital carried out a kidney transfer and transplant from a deceased donor from Saudi Arabia to a 23-year-old woman patient from Abu Dhabi.

The surgery was done at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), owned and operated by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA).

The health of the patient, Latifa Sai`ed, who had suffered kidney problems for 16 years, is said to be improving daily. The organ is functioning normally and she is no longer on dialysis.

Ali Abdulkareem al-Obaidli, chief clinical officer at SEHA, spoke about the patient recipient.

Latifa Sai`ed, born and raised in the UAE, suffered from a rare syndrome that resulted in kidney failure at the age of seven. She was on dialysis for 16 years ever since and endured multiple problems common to long-term dialysis patients, such as blood clots, inflammation and painful procedures such as cathertization.

Word was received that a young man died in a traffic accident in Saudi Arabia, and his family decided to donate his organs to help save the lives of those needing organ transplants.

Tests showed that Latifa was a near perfect match for the kidney and arrangements were made to rush it from Saudi Arabia to the UAE by a jet.

Al Qubaisi praised the medical team, and thanked the family of the donor for their generous and selfless act of kindness.

Sheikh Khalifa Medical City has conducted 75 kidney transplants, all from living related donors in the past. Among them were seven children, the youngest being four years old, while the oldest person was 64 years old. However, this was the first transplant from a deceased donor.