World / Health & Beauty
How RNA regulates activation, inhibition of genes
07.07.2008 02:24
b4uindia.com
Experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center have gained insights into how RNA – a chemical cousin of DNA – regulates activation and inhibition of genes. The researchers have found that RNA can interact with a non-gene region of DNA, known as the promoter region, which must be activated before a gene can be turned on. The finding is significant because scientists to date have not achieved any big success in discerning how RNA strands might regulate activation and inhibition of genes. "Our findings about the underlying mechanisms of RNA-activated gene expression reveal a new and unexpected target for potential drug development," Nature magazine quoted Dr. David Corey, professor of pharmacology and biochemistry and one of the senior authors of the study, as saying. The study was carried out in cancer cell cultures, and unveiled an unexpected target for the RNA manufactured in lab. The research team discovered the RNA did not home in on the gene itself, but rather on another type of RNA produced by the cell, a so-called non-coding RNA transcript. This type of RNA is found in association with the promoter regions that occur in front of the gene, and act essentially as a “start” command for turning on genes when activated. The researchers found that their man-made RNA strand bound to the RNA transcript, which then recruited certain proteins to form an RNA-protein complex. The whole complex then bound to the promoter region, an action that could then either activate or inhibit gene expression. "Involvement of RNA at a gene promoter is a new concept, potentially a big new concept. Interactions at gene promoters are critical for understanding disease, and our results bring a new dimension to understanding how genes can be regulated," Dr. Janowski said. The new findings suggest that the assumption that proteins alone control gene expression at promoters is not necessarily true. "By demonstrating how small RNAs can be used to recruit proteins to gene promoters, we have provided further evidence that this phenomenon should be in the mainstream of science," Dr. Corey said. Since the type of man-made RNA molecules employed in this study are already being used in human clinical trials, the researchers hope that progress toward the development of gene-regulating drugs could move quickly. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Cancer vaccine linked to rise in adverse side effects among women
07.07.2008 02:24
b4uindia.com
A new cervical cancer jab has been linked to an increase in the number of women and girls suffering bad reactions to vaccinations. The first annual report of the Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine for New South Wales has shown that there has been a 1600 percent surge in adverse reaction to the injection among those who were immunised last year. Dizziness, nausea and even collapse are some of the reported reactions. NSW Health said that it is monitoring the situation closely, but said the results did not outweigh the benefits of the vaccination program. Australian-developed Gardasil vaccinations were introduced to girls aged 12 and 13 through federal Government-funded school programs last year. They are also offered free to 13- to 18-year-olds as part of a catch-up program, and to young women aged up to 26. "One of the reasons we are very careful to track immunisations is that a trial is one thing but we also want to check what happens in the real world," News.com.au quoted Dr Jeremy McAnulty, NSW Health's director of communicable diseases, as saying. "All vaccines have some usually very minor side-effects but we are keen to see if some major ones emerge," he added. However, McAnulty insisted that the benefits of the vaccine in preventing human papillomavirus (HPV), which can lead to cervical cancer, were overwhelming. He said that most of the adverse reactions were recorded by nurses during school-based immunisations and none were life-threatening. According to NSW Public Health data, there were 224 official reports of adverse events linked to immunisation last year - 133 of which were in females aged between five and 24. On contrary, there were only 70 in total the previous year, with just eight recorded in young females. This is a 1662.5 per cent rise in reactions among young women. The data do not break down which vaccinations cause the side-effects. However, nationally, there have been 1013 reports of adverse side-effects from Gardasil from doctors, parents and patients to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). According to Women's Forum Australia director and health researcher Melinda Tankard Reist, the real number of reactions may be significantly higher. "I am not surprised that there has been an increase in reported reactions,” she said. "Most adverse reactions are never reported so you have to multiply it by many times (to get the real figure). "The health department and the Health Minister really need to have a closer look at this vaccine and a closer look at side-effects," she added. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Donor kids do as well emotionally as naturally conceived ones
07.07.2008 02:24
b4uindia.com
Children born to a surrogate mother or conceived through donated sperm or a donated egg do just as well emotionally as kids who are naturally conceived, according to a new study. The study, conducted by researchers at Cambridge University, that followed kids up to the age of seven found little difference in family relationships between the two groups. The study is the widest yet into concerns that the rising numbers of children born through assisted reproduction may suffer lower self-esteem or be treated less positively by parents, siblings and schoolmates. For the study, Polly Casey, from the Centre for Family Research at Cambridge University looked at the psychological well being of the parents and children and the quality of their relationships. Kids were given a ‘map’ with them at the centre, and asked to plot where family members and friends should be placed based on the emotional closeness of each relationship. Researchers interviewed parents and asked them to fill out questionnaires looking at the child's conduct and emotional well being. The team followed 39 surrogacy families, 43 donor insemination families, 46 egg donation families, and 70 families where children had been conceived naturally. However, only 39 percent of egg donation parents, 29 percent of donor insemination parents, and 89 percent of surrogacy parents had told their children how they were conceived, far fewer than had said they would do so when their child was one. Fears the child would not love their non-genetic parent, or that they would be upset by the news were major reasons for keeping the information from them. "We found that the family types did not differ in the overall quality of the relationship between mothers and their children and fathers and their children," BBC quoted Casey, as saying. However, the study showed that mothers who had used egg donation or surrogacy to conceive were more sensitive to their child's anxieties than mothers of those conceived via donor insemination. Researchers also found slightly more chance of ‘emotional over-involvement’ with their children from assisted reproduction mothers as opposed to natural conception mothers. Mothers' questionnaire responses showed no difference between the groups. The study also showed ‘significant disparities’ between assisted conception families who were open with the children and those who were not. Parents in the families who talked about the conception displayed greater sensitivity and warmth to the child. The study is being detailed at a European reproductive health conference in Barcelona. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Tofu may increase dementia risk
07.07.2008 02:24
b4uindia.com
A new study has suggested that consuming high levels of some soy products - including tofu - may increase the risk of dementia. Dementia is the progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. The Loughborough University-led study focused on 719 elderly Indonesians living in urban and rural regions of Java, reports BBC. It showed that high tofu consumption - at least once a day - was linked to worse memory, particularly among the over-68s. Soy products are a major alternative protein source to meat for many people in the developing world. However, in recent years, soy consumption has gone up in the West where it is often promoted as a ‘superfood’. Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, which mimic the impact of the female sex hormone oestrogen. There is some evidence that they may protect the brains of younger and middle-aged people from damage - but their effect on the ageing brain is less clear. The new study suggests that high levels of phytoestrogens may actually raise the risk of dementia. Lead author Professor Eef Hogervorst said that previous study had associated oestrogen therapy to a doubling of dementia risk in the over-65s. She said that oestrogens and probably phytoestrogens tended to promote growth among cells, not necessarily a good thing in the ageing brain. Alternatively, high doses of oestrogens might promote the damage caused to cells by particles known as free radicals. A third theory is that damage is caused not by the tofu, but by formaldehyde, which is sometimes used in Indonesia as a preservative. According to Professor David Smith, of the University of Oxford, tofu was a complex food with many ingredients, which might have an impact. However, he said: "There seems to be something happening in the brain as we age which makes it react to oestrogens in the opposite way to what we would expect." Hogervorst stressed that there was no suggestion that eating tofu in moderation posed a problem. Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, which funded the study, said more research was needed to pin down the potential risks and benefits of so-called superfoods. However, she said: "This kind of research into the causes of Alzheimer's could lead scientists to new ways of preventing this devastating disease. The study is published in the journal Dementias and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Dates, fenugreek are a great source of dietary fiber
07.07.2008 02:24
b4uindia.com
The benefits of oat bran are pretty much well known. Now, dates, fenugreek, purslane and sweet potato greens are adding their names to the list of dietary fiber providing edible items. Several scientists and business leaders recently convened to discuss novel sources and functions of dietary fiber at the Institute of Food Technologists’ Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans. “These sources create great opportunities for the food industry,” said Cal Kelly, president of Emerald Seed Products in Saskatchewan, Canada, where his company cultivates and processes legumes and fenugreeks for fiber. “Consumers are aware that fiber is good for us and that we need to eat more of it,” Kelly added. Fiber helps to regulate appetite by creating a feeling of satiety. It enhances intestinal health and modulates blood sugar. In addition, fiber reduces low-density lipoprotein and increases high-density lipoprotein (the good cholesterol). Fiber has roles in adding texture to food, providing stabilization and replacing fats. In the United Arab Emirates, where dates are a major component of individual diets, the fruit’s fiber is having a favorable role in baked goods, so date cultivation is encouraged. By reducing flour and replacing it with date fiber by 10 to 30 percent, breads, cookies and muffins have become as tasty as their flour counterparts but healthier. However, with more date fiber, the volume of a loaf of bread shrunk too much, said Isameldin Hashim, Ph.D. Purslane, a green familiar to Mediterranean diets but not to western ones, is high in dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids and phytochemicals. In terms of the amount of dietary fiber it contains, it exceeds other green vegetables like green lettuce and spinach, said Norma Dawkins, Ph.D., with Tuskegee University’s food science department in Tuskegee, Ala. Her research shows that sweet potato greens, part of the vine, match purslane’s dietary fiber power and add Vitamin B and beta-carotene to the diet. Purslane and sweet potato grains appear to have roles in reducing heart disease and cancer, but more studies are needed, Dawkins said. Making false claims about sources of dietary fiber will turn off the consumer, said Sakharam Patil, PhD, president of a global business consulting firm. He sees potential for more dietary fiber in fast food: “We don’t chew that stuff. We just swallow it.” Ultimately, sophisticated tastes will rule what dietary fiber sources will be the most successful, Patil adds. Kelly said: “Taste is the final arbiter of whether it will work in the marketplace.” (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Doctors 'under attack' - BMA head
07.07.2008 01:03
bbc.co.uk
The leader of the British Medical Association says doctors in England feel under attack from the government.
World
Health & Beauty
Talking therapy plans under fire
07.07.2008 01:03
bbc.co.uk
A government drive to increase the number of cognitive behavioural therapists is flawed, a group of experts warn.
World
Health & Beauty
Male biological clock 'ticks too'
07.07.2008 01:03
bbc.co.uk
Scientists say there's more evidence that men, like women, have biological clocks affecting when they can have children.
World
Health & Beauty
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