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Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao Vepachedu, PhD,
LLM
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Issue 71
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5105 Kali Era , Swabhanu
Year, Margasira month
1925 Salivahana Era
, Swabhanu Year, Margasira month
2061 Vikramarka Era, Swabhanu
Year, Margasira month
2003 AD, November
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Contents
Epigenetics
Bilingual
Children are Smarter
Environmental Chemicals
Women's Health
An Indian Woman dies Every
Five Minutes
Overeating Women
Fertility
Le Weekend Pill
Fertilized to death
Timing
Diet
and Exercise
Thanksgiving Foods
Buckwheat
Sugar
in Diet Increased Worldwide
Antioxidants
Fruits and
Vegetables and WHO
Whole Tomatoes
Mediterranean Diet
BreastFeeding
Heart
Disease Begins Early and Strikes later
Comparative
Study of Popular Diets
Omega-3 Oils
Grapes and Pomegranates
Folic Acid
In
the Pursuit of Long and Healthy Life
Smoking
Men are more confident in quitting
smoking
Smoking Causes
Miscarriage
Indo-Swiss
Collaboration
Recipes
Creamy Carrot Soup
Spinach Salad
Fruity Bread Pudding
Epigenetics
Bilingual Children
are Smarter
At Dartmouth College, researchers report that bilingual children
may be "smarter" than their monolingual peers. These findings add weight
to the bilingual side of the long-running argument about whether children
who grow up bilingual are at an advantage compared to those who learn only
one language. The findings show that bilingual children can perform
certain cognitive tasks more accurately than monolinguals. The bilingual
children's enhanced cognitive skills are due to the increased computational
demands of processing two different language systems. For example,
the brain that has been trained for bilingual language must look up and attend
to the meaning for, say, 'cup' in English, while suppressing the meaning
for 'cup' in the child's other native language. This requires heightened
computational analysis in the brain. This advantage is associated with
learning two distinct languages in such a way that the child learns the word
for ‘cup’ in its native language and uses it in the native language.
This advantage may not be there when ‘cup’ substitutes the native term and
the native term is never learned or never used in the native language, a
phenomenon that occurs in many Indian languages.
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Environmental Chemicals
Researchers at Mississippi State University have found that early
exposure to environmental chemicals that mimic or block the action of the
sex hormones estrogen and testosterone may disrupt normal differences in
the brain between males and females -- differences that affect thinking and
learning as well as sexual behavior. These findings add more scientific support
to the growing concern that exposure to environmental chemicals is harmful,
particularly to children.
In recent years, scientists have increasingly linked environmental chemicals
to certain reproductive abnormalities, particularly premature or delayed sexual
development. In the last decade, we've also come to understand that
sex hormones play an important role in the maturation of other, non-reproductive
systems. It's now known that estrogen is a key player in the development
of the nervous system, and that the presence or absence of estrogen during
development causes significant differences in the brains of both male and
female animals. These gender-related differences are connected to areas of
the brain involved in cognitive as well as reproductive functions.
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Women's Health
An Indian Woman dies Every Five Minutes
According to Washington Post, November 23, 2003, almost two-thirds
of Indian women, mostly living in villages, give birth at home. More than
half of this country's women are anemic and only 20 percent of mothers receive
all the required components of prenatal care. Every five minutes, an Indian
woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, adding
up to more than 100,000 deaths a year, one of the highest rates in the world.
One out of six women who give birth are between the ages of 15 and 19.
Back to Contents
Overeating
Women
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 33 percent of
women in the United States are overweight compared to 28 percent of men.
New studies from Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida,
may help explain why women are more prone to weight gain and shed fewer pounds
through exercise than men. In studies involving male and female rats, it
was found that females were much more susceptible than males to overeating
when presented with a sweet-tasting diet. They also discovered that exercise
helps males overcome their urge to overeat such foods, but not females.
For both sexes, however, obesity has become a growing and serious health
problem in the US. CDC statistics released in 2002 showed that the number
of obese people in the United States has doubled over the past two decades.
Obesity has been linked to a host of potentially deadly health problems,
including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.
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Fertility and Sexual Health
Le Weekend Pill
A third pill to treat impotence was approved for sale in the United States
on November 21. Erectile dysfunction, also called impotence, means that
a man's penis doesn't get hard enough to have intercourse. The man cannot
get or maintain an erection. This condition affects approximately 30 million
men in the United States. The new pill, sold under the name Cialis, manufactured
by Eli Lilly & Co., joins Viagra and Levitra. All three drugs act
on an enzyme that helps prompt and maintain erections by relaxing muscles
in the penis and blood vessels. The duration and onset of the drug action
is different with each pill. Depending upon the need of the hour,
one can choose among the three choices. Levitra starts working within
15 minutes and Viagra requires one-hour to cause an erection and are recommended
during the week. For the weekend, Cialis is recommended. Cialis
was found in studies to cause an erection within 30 minutes and stay active
for 36 hours and is called "Le weekend" pill. Wait, Cialis is not available
for this Thanksgiving weekend, because it is just approved. But, it should
hit the market relatively soon-hopefully by Christmas break. By the way, all
these drugs are not recommended for those who are on heart medication or
for those for whom sexual activity is not advisable due to heart conditions.
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Diet and Exercise
Thanksgiving Foods
Cranberries - This Thanksgiving staple is packed with
antioxidants. New studies suggest that cranberries also can aid recovery from
stroke. The red berries, may protect brain cells from death after a stroke,
according to findings presented at the September national meeting of the
American Chemical Society by Catherine Neto, Ph.D., of
the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
Corn - Studies show that canned corn may be healthier
for you than corn on the cob. Researchers at Cornell University say that heat
processing of sweet corn significantly raises the level of naturally occurring
compounds that help fight disease, including cancer and heart disease. Rui
Hai Liu, M.D., Ph.D., reported the study in the Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry.
Coffee: A newly identified antioxidant found in coffee
is particularly potent at preventing colon cancer, according to a recent study.
The research, led by Thomas Hofmann, Ph.D., of the University of Mnster in
Germany, was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
this month.
Hot Cocoa - Scientists have found that hot cocoa tops
both red wine and tea in antioxidants, chemicals that have been shown to fight
cancer, heart disease and aging. Chang Yong Lee, Ph.D., from Cornell University
examined the benefits of the popular beverage in a study published online
this month in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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Buckwheat
Researchers in Canada have found new evidence that buckwheat, a grain used
in making pancakes and soba noodles, may be beneficial in the management of
diabetes. In a controlled study, they showed that extracts of the seed lowered
blood glucose levels by 12 percent to 19 percent when fed to diabetic rats.
Their findings will appear in the Dec. 3 issue of the Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry. Based on studies by others, the active component
in buckwheat responsible for lowering blood glucose appears to be chiro-inositol.
The compound, which is relatively high in buckwheat and rarely found in other
foods, has been previously shown in animal and human studies to play a significant
role in glucose metabolism and cell signaling.
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Sugar in Diet Increased Worldwide
North Carolina researchers report that the average daily consumption of
sugar and other calorie-containing sweeteners worldwide jumped 74 calories
from 1962 to 2000. In the U.S., the jump in sweet calories was even
greater - 83 calories per day from 1977 to 1996. Most of those extra sweet
calories - 80 percent - came from sugary soft drinks and fruit drinks, researchers
report in the November issue of the journal Obesity Research.
Worldwide, the percentage of total calories that came from sugar, high-fructose
corn syrup and other caloric sweeteners in 2000 was 32 percent higher than
in 1962. Most of this worldwide change, the authors assert, was due
to population shift to urban areas. The researchers note that people living
in cities have greater access to processed foods that are high in sugar.
In the U.S., the rise in caloric sweetener consumption means that as of 1996,
30 percent of all carbohydrate calories came from sugar and other sweeteners.
Of the 83 calorie per day increase, 54 calories came from soft drinks and
13 calories came from sugared fruit drinks.
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Antioxidants
Antioxidants include vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta carotene (a form of
vitamin A), as well as other minerals and compounds found in food. These
nutrients have been shown to help reduce oxidation, a process that can cause
damage to cells and may contribute to aging, including the reduced cognitive
decline that typically develops with age. Studies suggest that antioxidants
may also protect against certain cancers, heart disease and other non-neurological
age-related diseases.
Eating an antioxidant-rich diet may help keep cognitive skills strong during
old age, according to a recent animal study conducted at the University of
Toronto. The study found that old dogs that were on an antioxidant diet performed
better on a variety of cognitive tests than dogs that were not on the diet.
The dogs eating the antioxidant-fortified foods performed as well as young
animals.
At the National Institute on Aging's (NIA) Gerontology Research Center in
Baltimore, Maryland, scientists have found that blueberries can help lessen
some of the functional damage caused by a brain injury. The results suggest
that the consumption of blueberries and perhaps other fruits and vegetables
could have a positive neurological impact on the aging brain, Alzheimer's
disease, and other neurological disorders.
Researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture in Boston have found that an antioxidant-rich
diet may help stave off the harmful, immediate effects of certain cosmic radiation.
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Fruits and Vegetables and WHO
Low fruit and vegetable intake is estimated to cause about 31 per cent of
ischaemic heart disease and 11 per cent of stroke worldwide. The WHO International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) estimates that the preventable per
centage of cancer due to low fruit and vegetable intake ranges from 5 to
12 per cent for all cancers, and up to 20 to 30 per cent for upper gastrointestinal
tract cancers. Low fruit and vegetable intake is estimated to cause
some 2.7 million deaths each year, and was among the top 10 risk factors
contributing to mortality, according to the World Health Report 2002.
World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) announced a unified approach to promote greater consumption
of fruit and vegetables. The announcement was made in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, at the annual meeting of the WHO Global Forum on Noncommunicable
Disease (NCD) Prevention and Control. The joint fruit and vegetable promotion
effort is being developed within the framework of the Global Strategy on
Diet, Physical Activity and Health. This effort is being developed in collaboration
with other global partners, including national "5-a-day" type multi-stakeholder
organizations, which promote fruit and vegetable consumption.
A recently published report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on
Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases recommends the
intake of a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables per day (excluding starchy
tubers such as potatoes) for the prevention of chronic diseases including
heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Eating a wide variety
of fruit and vegetables helps ensure an adequate intake of most micronutrients,
dietary fibres and a host of beneficial non-nutrient substances, say the
two UN agencies. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption can also help
displace excessive consumption of foods high in fats, sugars or salt. However,
according to the FAO statistical database, the total supply of fruit and
vegetables is far below the intake minimum target in many countries, especially
in Asia, Africa and in Eastern and Central Europe.
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Whole
Tomatoes
Eating tomato products has been tied to a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
Now, findings from an animal study suggest that to achieve this effect the
whole tomato must be eaten. Several reports have shown a decreased risk
of prostate cancer in men with high levels of lycopene, a chemical found in
tomatoes. The current findings indicate, however, that simply taking lycopene
pills does not protect against the cancer. Tomatoes contain dozens of biologically
active substances that may work together better than any one would work alone.
The new findings are reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute,
November 5, 2003.
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Mediterranean
Diet
A "Mediterranean diet" rich in olive oil and lean on meat reduced signs
of inflammation that raise the risk of heart disease. Following the maxim
"an The finding was among the evidence, presented at an annual meeting
of the American Heart Association, that diets low in fat and rich
in fruits and vegetables may prevent heart disease - the leading killer of
Americans. A Mediterranean diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables and olive oil,
and very little meat, and has been linked to lower heart disease rates.
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BreastFeeding
A natural compound found in breast milk, known as transforming growth factor
(TGF)-beta-1, seems to protect infants from developing wheezing, new research
shows. This may help explain the well-known anti-wheezing effects linked
to breastfeeding. The findings are based on a study of breastfeeding
and wheezing in 243 infants and mothers from Tucson, Arizona. Levels of several
chemicals, including TGF-beta-1, were measured in the breast milk of all women
several days after giving birth. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology,
October 2003.
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Heart Disease Begins Early
and Strikes later
Heart attacks and other complications of cardiovascular disease do not usually
strike until middle age or later, but new findings add to growing evidence
that cardiovascular disease begins in childhood. In two new studies, the presence
of cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol and obesity during
childhood and adolescence were directly related to signs of artery disease
in early adulthood. In one of the studies reported in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, November 5, 2003, researchers found that
obesity and high cholesterol in childhood were directly related to the thickness
of the lining of the carotid artery. Thickening of this layer is a marker
of the artery disease atherosclerosis. The second study at the University
of Turku in Finland, provided similar results in a sample of more than 2,000
Finns ages 24 to 39.
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Comparative Study of Popular
Diets
A study from Tufts University found that the Ornish diet and three
other popular diets all were effective in producing weight loss and lowering
LDL. The Atkins, Zone and Weight Watchers diets all raised HDL as well,
while the Ornish diet did not. In a news conference, Dr. Ornish contended
that high HDL is not necessary for heart health in people who eat very little
fat. HDL helps to reduce the plaque that can obstruct coronary arteries.
"There's less garbage, so your body needs fewer garbage trucks [HDL] to get
rid of it," he said. Ornish is a professor of medicine at the University
of California, San Francisco and president of the Preventive Medicine Institute
in Sausalito, Calif.
In another study, people with heart disease or a strong risk of developing
it lost weight, reduced blood pressure and cholesterol and increased their
exercise capacity after 12 weeks on a very-low-fat, vegetarian diet and exercise
program. The study was funded by a Pennsylvania health-insurance company
and was presented by Dean Ornish, M.D., creator of the diet, at the American
Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions.
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Omega-3
Oils
Exercise-induced broncho-constriction (EIB) is a condition characterized
by transient airway narrowing either during or after exercise, which results
in a reduction in post-exercise pulmonary function. According to a study
that appears in the second issue for November 2003 of the American Journal
of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 3 weeks of dietary supplementation
with omega-3 oil capsules markedly reduces the severity of EIB in elite athletes.
The investigators conducted a randomized, double-blind crossover study in
10 elite athletes with EIB and 10 elite athletes without EIB. The participants
entered the study on their normal diet. They then received either capsules
containing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) or placebo capsules
filled with olive oil daily for 3 weeks. In subjects with EIB, the n-3
PUFA diet improved post-exercise pulmonary function compared with normal and
placebo diets. When measured at 15 minutes post-exercise, pulmonary
function test results showed a 3 percent decrease in PUFA diet participants,
compared with a 14.5 percent decrease on the placebo diet, and a 17.3 percent
decrease on the normal diet. Pro-inflammatory mediators all decreased significantly
on the omega-3 oil diet compared with the other two diets. Omega-3 oils
are found abundantly in flax seed, flaxseed oil, urad dal, walnuts, wheat
germ and fish oils.
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Grapes and Pomegranates
Research presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer
Research in Phoenix in October indicates that pomegranate extract prevents
a chemical called TPA from damaging the skin of newborn mice, while resveratrol
from grapes prevents production of a chemical, in over exposed mice to UV
light, called survivin which is overproduced in cancer cells.
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Folic Acid
According to a new study published in the journal Birth Defects Research
(Part A): Clinical and Molecular Teratology, a continuing and massive global
epidemic of spina bifida and anencephaly that affects more than 200,000 children
and their families each year worldwide could be prevented by fortification
of flour with folic acid.
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In the Pursuit of Long
and Healthy Life
Researchers have known about the Methuselahan powers of eating less since
the 1930's, when a Cornell University nutrition professor unexpectedly discovered
that dieting rats tend to live 30 percent longer. Similar reactions have since
been found with fruit flies, monkeys and Labrador retrievers, but the impact
of calorie reduction on humans has been mostly speculative. During the first
and second World Wars, the shortage of food in some northern European countries
led to a sharp decrease in mortality from coronary artery disease, Type 2
diabetes and cancer.
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Smoking
Men are more
confident in quitting smoking
Men may be closer than women to adopting healthy behaviors as permanent
habits. Men surveyed for a study of low-income minorities were more likely
than women to say that they were exercising regularly and that they had quit
smoking for more than six months. The study appears in the American
Journal of Health Behavior. Women were more likely to say that
they had no intentions of quitting smoking or and were only beginning to
contemplate exercising regularly. The researchers found no significant
differences in men and women's readiness to decrease the amount of fat that
they ate. Earlier studies of white populations showed that women were
further along than men in adopting healthy habits such as lower-fat diets.
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Smoking Causes Miscarriage
Smoking during pregnancy causes annually as high as 141,000 tobacco-induced
miscarriages, 61,000 low birth weight infants, 26,000 infant admissions to
neonatal intensive care units, and 2200 deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
(SIDS). Further, a growing number of studies suggest that infants born to
women who smoke during pregnancy may be at increased risk for childhood obesity.
In a report published in the journal Birth Defects Research (Part
A): Clinical and Molecular Teratology, The Public Affairs Committee of the
Teratology Society has urged the U.S. government to sign the World Health
Organization (WHO) treaty known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
and to mandate health coverage for smoking cessation in pregnancy. The full
text of this report was published online on October 30 and is available via
Wiley InterScience at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jissue/104548475.
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Indo-Swiss
Collaboration
What has happened here (the Indian Union) in the past 10 years is extraordinary
and could not be matched by other countries in a hundred years, said President
Couchepin during his weeklong visit to India and praised India's biotechnology
and information technology sector. Switzerland and India are to strengthen
their cooperation in science and technology. Swiss President Pascal Couchepin
and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed an agreement in New
Delhi on Monday, November 10 that puts into place the framework for greater
collaboration between the two nations in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and
information technology. The Swiss and Indian governments also committed
themselves to opening a joint research laboratory in India in the near future,
although precise details on what form that institute will take have yet to
be hammered out, reports the Scientist.
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Recipes
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Creamy Carrot Soup
Ingredients:
2 tsp canola oil
1.20 lb carrots, peeled and chopped
1 celery stick, sliced
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1½-cup lowfat soymilk
1 onion, medium, chopped
2 vegetable stock cubes
2½-cup water
Directions:
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Sauté onion until soft.
Add carrot, potato, celery, water, stock cubes and ginger. Bring to the
boil; then cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Cool, then process in food processor until smooth.
Gradually add soymilk, processing until well combined.
Reheat before serving
womenfitness.net
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Spinach
Salad
Ingredients:
1 lb. spinach leaves, washed and torn into pieces, tough stems discarded
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup fat-free Italian dressing
Directions:
Combine spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes in a salad bowl.
Pour dressing over salad and toss.
womenfitness.net
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FRUITY BREAD PUDDING
Ingredients:
2/3 cup mixed dried fruit
2/3 cup apple juice
115 g stale brown or white bread
1tsp mixed spice
1 large banana sliced
2/3 cup skimmed milk
1 tbsp sugar
natural low fat yogurt to serve
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200 c. Place the dried fruit in a small pan with
the apple juice and bring to the boil .
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bread spice and banana
spoon the mixture into a shallow 2 pint /5cup oven proof dish and pour over
the milk.
Sprinkle with demurer sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes until from
and golden brown. Serve hot or cold with natural yogurt .
Recipes from Heart Health: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/ktb_recipebk/index.htm
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Source: The
primary sources cited above, New York Times (NYT),
Washington Post (WP), Mercury News, Bayarea.com,
Intellihealthnews, Deccan Chronicle (DC), the Hindu, Hindustan
Times, Times of India, AP, Reuters, AFP, womenfitness.net
etc.
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