Hashout Sitewide Feed

Obese Impact Climate?

Aziz — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:31:52 +0000

Obesity contributes to global warming and food shortages. Obese people consume 18 per cent more calories than lean people, and require more fuel for transportation, which contributes to demand for food and fuel, according to researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. This in turn drives up prices and leads to shortages and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Delaying Onset Of Diabetes

Aziz — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:31:18 +0000

Lifestyle changes like having more vegetables, avoiding alcohol, and exercising regularly can delay onset of diabetes for years, reports journal Lancet. Researchers in China divided 577 people with high risk of diabetes into four groups: one group focused on diet, another on exercise and the third on both; the fourth did not make any lifestyle changes.

‘Fast’ Way To Beat Jet Lag

Aziz — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:31:20 +0000

Fasting during a long flight could help beat jet lag. The body’s primary functions are regulated by a biological circadian clock, which responds to daylight, but a study on mice published in journal Science notes that a second ‘feeding clock’, which responds to mealtime patterns, may take over in the absence of food, keeping the person awake till he finds food.

Why Juices Are Good

Aziz — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:31:08 +0000

Fruit juices have better effect against atherosclerosis (clogged arteries, which can cause heart attack or stroke), than the fruits themselves. To study the effect of juicing on beneficial phenolic compounds (antioxidants) in fruits, researchers in France fed rodents grapes, apples and their juices, or water, along with a high cholesterol diet.

Breast-Fed Babies Branier

Aziz — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:31:01 +0000

Children who were exclusively breast-fed become smarter than those who were fed supplements also. Researchers from Belarus and Canada studied nearly 14,000 children, half of whom were exclusively breast fed, and the rest given breast milk with other supplements. A standardized IQ test taken when the kids were six years old showed that exclusively breast-fed kids scored an average of 7.5 points higher on verbal intelligence, 2.9 points higher on non-verbal intelligence, and 5.9 points higher on overall intelligence.

Mentally Taxing Jobs Help

Aziz — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:31:14 +0000

Mentally challenging jobs keep your brain sharper and help ward off dementia. It will help preserve cognitive abilities through retirement, regardless of one’s intelligence, age or education. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center looked at the IQ scores of 1,036 male twins when they joined the US army and compared them with the scores they got after retirement.

Wealth Lowers Stroke Risk

Aziz — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:31:43 +0000

Greater wealth is linked to lower risk of stroke among men aged 50 to 64, reports journal Stroke. A study observed around 20,000 stroke-free participants for a period of 8.5 years; 1542 of them suffered stroke during the study period. Ten per cent of the participants with the least wealth were three times more likely to suffer a stroke, compared with the wealthy ones. Researchers feel “wealth may increase individual’s sense of control over their lives, reducing psychosocial stress and subsequently stroke risk”.

Pregnancy, Stress & Asthma

Aziz — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:31:49 +0000

Babies born to women who were stressed out during pregnancy have a greater risk of developing asthma and all allergies later in life. Harvard Medical School researchers measured the levels of Immunoglobulin E (IgE, an antibody involved in allergic and asthmatic reactions) in the umbilical cord blood of 387 babies and found that women who had high levels of stress during pregnancy gave birth to babies with higher levels of IgE.

Testosterone & Traders

Aziz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Highly successful stockbrokers have high levels of the male hormone testosterone. Researchers at Cambridge University followed 17 male traders in London for eight days and took their saliva samples at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Later, tests showed that the testosterone levels of these man were very high on days they had a higher-than-average success in the stock market. High testosterone levels boosted their confidence and energy, leading to risk-taking and winning. However, high testosterone levels for prolonged periods can induce hasty risk-taking.

Keyboards Dirtier Than Than Toilets

Aziz — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:31:48 +0000

There could be more harmful bacteria on a computer keyboards than on toilet seats. British microbiologists James Francis took swabs from 33 keyboards and compared them with those from a toilet seat and toilet handle. The keyboards tested positive for a host of germs and bugs that could cause serious health problems like stomach flu and skin infections. One of the keyboards had bacteria 150 times more than the recommended limit, making it five times filthier than a toilet seat. Dropped food crumbs and poor hygiene were the main culprits.

Fat As A Kid, Fat Always

Aziz — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:31:23 +0000

If you are obese as a child, you will probably be obese as an adult. The number of fat cells in one’s body is set in adolescence and remain unchanged through adulthood, says a study in journal Nature.

Indian Hearts At Risk

Aziz — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:31:24 +0000

India is expected to bear 60 per cent of the burden of heart disease by 2010. Indian and Canadian researchers studied around 21,000 heart attack patients across 89 hospitals in India.

Meditation Lowers BP

Aziz — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:31:31 +0000

Practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) daily can control high blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Kentucky studied nine randomized trials that used TM as the principal source of BP reduction, and compared them with a control group.

What Motivates Men

Aziz — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:31:47 +0000

The part of the brain associated with reward and addiction is more activated in males than in females when both genders play a game whose object is to acquire more territory. Researchers at Stanford made 22 undergraduates, half of them men and half women, play a video game that dealt with territoriality. The game involved gaining space by clicking on balls on the computer screen.
Although both genders clicked on the same number of balls, men quickly acquired more space than women, apparently because men were better at identifying which balls would give them the most space when clicked. According to the researchers, most computer games that males like to play involve territory and aggression, explaining why men are more likely to get hooked. The study could offer insights into what motivates human behavior.

One Foetus, 3 Parents

Aziz — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:31:13 +0000

Scientists have created human embryos from three parents, which could be the answer to a group of hereditary diseases called mitochondrial disease. Researchers from Newcastle University in Northern Ireland created test tube embryos in the lab using the DNA of a man and two women. Mitochondrial diseases — including liver, brain and heart disorders, blindness, deafness, some forms of epilepsy, and muscular problems — are inherited from the mother. The aim of the method is to make sure that women with faulty mitochondrial DNA do not pass the diseases on to their children. This is achieved by giving the embryos at risk a mitochondrial transplant. However, it may take time to sort out the ethical aspects of these studies.

Keep Freinds, Live Longer

Aziz — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:31:32 +0000

Satisfying friendships are a greater predictor of longevity than even close family ties, and they can protect against obesity, depression and heart disease, according to a 10-year study of senior citizens in Adelaide, Australia. Here are six friends to keep on speed dial.

Cloned immune cells fight cancer

Aziz — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:31:08 +0000

A patient whose skin cancer had spread throughout his body has been given the all-clear after being injected with billions of his own immune cells.
Tests revealed that the 52-year old man’s tumors, which spread from his skin to his lung and groin, vanished within two months of having the treatment, and had not returned two years later. Doctors attempted the experimental therapy as a part of a clinical trial after the man’s cancer failed to respond to conventional treatments.
The man is the first to benefit from the new technique, which uses cloning to produce billions of copies of a patient’s immune cells. When they are injected into the body they attack the cancer and force it into remission.

Calorie Conscious? Check This

Aziz — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:31:12 +0000

Artificial sweeteners may not help lose weight. Consuming food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to more weight gain and adiposity than consuming the same food sweetened with higher calorie sugar, according to researchers at the University of Purdue, USA. A study on rats fed on artificially sweetened food showed that they ate more food and gained more weight compared to rats fed on food sweetened with normal sugar. Researchers say that the body is confused when a sweet taste is not followed by a heavy-calorie food, leading the rats on artificially sweetened diet to crave for more food. The results of the study are yet to be translated in humans.

Caffeine Raises Abortion Risk

Aziz — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:31:52 +0000

Women who consume 200 milligrams or more of caffeine (equivalent to 2 or more cups of coffee) a day may double their risk of miscarriage. Even women who consume less than 200 milligrams may have a 40 per cent chance of miscarriage, says a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dying For A Smoke?

Aziz — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:31:40 +0000

Smoking-related diseases will kill about one million Indians a year by 2010. It could account for 20 per cent of all male deaths and 5 per cent of all female deaths in the 30 to 69 age group, says a study based on a nationwide survey of 1.1 million homes. There are about 120 million smokers in India. Around 30 per cent of men and 5 per cent of women in the 30-69 age group smoke either bidis or cigarettes. Men who smoke bidis shorten their lives by six years, and women by eight years. Men who smoke cigarettes lose ten years. “Smokers in India start later in life and smoke fewer cigarettes, or bidis, than those in Europe or America, but the risks are as extreme as in the west,” said Prabhat Jha, lead author of the study and professor at the University of Toronto. He said graphic warnings would be more effective in educating people about the dangers of smoking, as 50 per cent of smoking-related deaths were expected to be among poor, illiterate Indians. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was led by a team of doctors from India, Britain and Canada.