The Telangana Science Journal, October 2003, Issue 70

Contents

Epigenetics
Parent’s Habits Impact Children
Pregnant Mothers’ Habits’ Impact
TV Impact on Reading Skills
Poverty and Aggressive Behavior

Mind and Body
Calm Down and Live Long
Hostility Results in High Blood Pressure
Hypochondria

Women's Health
Vaccine for Breast Cancer
Premenopause Activity and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer
Premenopausal Weight Gain Causes Post Menopausal Breast Cancer
Exercise Prevents Breast Cancer
High Fat Diet Causes Breast Cancer
High Cholesterol Causes Breast Cancer
New Mammography Technique
Breast Implants
Dyspareunia
Intense Training and Puberty
Hypnosis Restores Menstruation
Puberty Gene Discovered
Physical Activity and Team Sports

Fertility
Increased Infertility in America
Causes of Infertility
Diabetes and Erectile Dysfunction
Body Fat and Infertility
Pot and Infertility
Male Contraception
Fertility Problems and Premature Birth

Neuroscience
Prevention of Alzheimer’s
Sleep helps Memory

Universe is a Soccer Ball

Diet and Exercise
    Tea helps reduce LDLs
A few more steps everyday take you a long way!
    Obesity Statistics
Genes and Habits
Couch Potatoes
Meat, Milk and Cancer
Multivitamins and Colorectal Cancer
    Fruits and Vegetables Protect from Stroke
    Healthy Bones from Fruits and Vegetables
Physical Activity

Spices and Herbs
Ginger
Chinese Mint
Green Tea
Broccoli, cooking makes a difference

Smoking
    Smoking, the Killer
    Lung Cancer
    How to Quit Smoking

Skin Cancer

Recipes
Berry Pudding Cake
Banana Maple and Lime Pancakes
Lemon Potatoes
Vegan Lasagna

Karuparthy Column

Management of Chronic Pain

(Continued from last month)

IS PAIN IN THE MIND?

All investigations such as lab tests, x-ray and MRI do not show any malady. The patient still complains pain. Then, where is the pain coming from, if the body does not show any abnormality? Very often, a frustrated chronic pain patient asks, “Everybody thinks that my pain is in my mind. Is it true?” Patients often indignantly say that their perception of pain is real and not imagined. In addition, the guilt associated with the seemingly “imagined pain” may cause depression, which may in turn amplify the pain. (See also Hypochondria below).

To have a handle on this mystery, we need to understand the body, mind and their relationship. A comprehensive understanding of the body-mind relationship enables the patient to take appropriate action.

A chronic pain patient needs to know that pain can exist without any abnormality in the body chemistry or x-ray pictures. In chronic pain, the muscles are at a heightened tone¹, whatever the reason may be. The initiating pain may be localized. Yet, over a period of time, all the muscles in the body become involved through biomechanical factors. The tone of these muscles will not show up in any test or x-ray pictures. It is like having a hidden blood pressure cuff around the arm.

The muscles of the body are in a relaxed mode most of the time. They go into action briefly only when they are called upon by the brain to act. In a chronic pain situation, they are as if working all the time 24/7, round the clock. No wonder they are going to hurt. This is why most of the muscle relaxant medications provide only temporary relief from the chronic pain.

Here comes the mind into play. In the initial stages, the mind brushes the pain aside and tries to go on with its functions. However, a continued chronic pain stimulus on the body disturbs the mind and causes anxiety. Anxiety initiates a fear response that causes increased tone in the muscles. When this happens everyday for a long time, even normal daily routine becomes stressful and stress further increases the tone of the muscles and pain perception.

There is no psychiatric disorder or disease to imagine pain. Pain is real. However, mind plays a great role in modulating pain perception. Once you see the connection between the mind and the body and how it influences the pain, it is easy to understand how pain can exist without conscious imagination. Most of us get a headache due to stress and it goes away with a couple of Tylenol or Ibuprofen tablets. Unlike headache due to stress, chronic pain is a daily occurrence and does not go away with pain relievers. This is why, mind-body techniques like yoga and meditation help to reduce the stress and relieve the pain.

¹Muscle tone is the state of activity or tension of a muscle beyond that related to its physical properties, that is, its active resistance to stretch. It refers to the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle. Muscle tone is what enables us to keep our bodies in certain position or posture or move. For example, to bend your arm to brush your teeth, you must shorten (increase the tone of) the biceps muscles on the front of your arm at the same time you are lengthening (reducing the tone of) the triceps muscles on the back of your arm. To complete a movement smoothly, the tone in all muscle groups involved must be balanced. The brain must send messages to each muscle group to actively change its resistance.

KV, October 2003

Back to Contents

Epigenetics
Epigenetics is the study of how environmental factors like diet, stress, maternal nutrition and other environmental factors can change gene function without altering the DNA sequence in any way.

Parent’s Habits Impact Children
A new study, Feeding Infants & Toddlers Study (FITS), has found significant numbers of infants and toddlers are eating French fries, pizza, candy and soda, even before their second birthday. Many American children are developing the same bad eating habits that plague American adults: too much fat, sugar and salt and too few complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables. Children aged 1 to 2 years require about 950 calories per day, but the study found that the median intake for that age group is 1,220 calories. An overview of the FITS study was presented at a meeting of the American Dietetic Association in October. The complete study results are to be published in the association's journal in January.
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Pregnant Mothers’ Habits’ Impact
Scientists have long known that what pregnant mothers eat can affect their offspring. In a study, reported in the Aug. 1 issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology, factors such as diet, stress and maternal nutrition have been shown to play a role in cancer, stroke, diabetes, schizophrenia, manic depression and other diseases as well as in shaping behavioral traits in offspring.

TV Impact on Reading Skills
A study, by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Children's Digital Media Centers, found about one-third of children 6 and younger have TVs in their rooms and a similar proportion live in homes where a television is on most or all the time. In those "heavy TV households," 34 percent of children ages 4 to 6 can read, compared with 56 percent in homes where the TV is on less often. The study also found that kids 6 months to 6 years spend about two hours a day watching television, playing video games or using computers. That's roughly the same amount of time they spend playing outdoors and three times as long as they spend reading or being read to. The report found that 27 percent of 4-to-6-year-olds uses a computer each day, spending an average of one hour at the keyboard. Almost 80 percent of those 6 and under read or are read to every day. However, children spend only 49 minutes on average with books per day compared with 2 hours and 22 minutes in front of a TV or computer screen. Watching TV without a parent is a junk experience, especially for young children.
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Poverty and Aggressive Behavior
Research has demonstrated time and time again that poverty and mental illness are intertwined. A study published in October in The Journal of the American Medical Association looked at children before and after their families rose above the poverty level. Rates of deviant and aggressive behaviors, the study noted, declined as incomes rose.

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Mind and Body
Calm Down and Live Long
Men and women who experience an increase in hostile feelings from their late teens to their late 40s may double their risk of obesity, depression, poor social support and achieving less with their lives than they expected according to a report in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. People who had a highly hostile personality in college were at significantly higher risk of smoking, drinking, suffering from depression and believing that life, family and career were turning out worse than expected 30 years later. Increases in hostility over time affected even those who were not so hostile during their college years. Hostility is associated with a higher risk of feeling socially isolated, avoiding exercise, eating a high-fat diet and even lower income among women.
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Hostility Results in High Blood Pressure
Young adults having "type A" personality traits, such as time urgency/impatience (TUI), achievement striving/competitiveness (ASC), and hostility, are shown to have the long-term risk of developing high blood pressure, researchers report in Journal of the American Medical Association, October 22/29, 2003.

Hypochondria
Hypochondria is more common than many assume: it affects about 1 percent of the population, but 5 percent of general medical outpatients. Hypochondriacs are popularly assumed to be fakers; nothing could be further from the truth. Hypochondriacs do not voluntarily or consciously produce their physical symptoms; they fervently believe they are physically ill and become frustrated when told they are not. Hypochondriacs can be taught to change their misconceptions about disease and their maladaptive behavior, like doctor shopping. In a study published in the British medical journal, Dr. David Clark of the University of Oxford, randomly assigned 48 hypochondriacs to cognitive therapy, stress management or a waiting list. He found that each treatment was more effective than no treatment, though therapy had a slight edge over stress management. The benefits of treatment seem to go beyond symptom relief. Several studies show a significant drop in the use of medical services and medication with treatment, translating into real savings. So is a hypochondriac's pain and suffering real or imagined? In the end, it doesn't matter whether pain arises from a broken leg or a brain that misperceives normal bodily sensations; pain hurts regardless of its source, writes Richard Friedman, MD (When the Mind Tortures the Body With Illnesses Unseen, New York Times, September 9, 2003).

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Women's Health
Vaccine for Breast Cancer
Preliminary results from a U.S. government study suggest that a vaccine may help women with advanced cases avoid a recurrence of breast cancer. The vaccine targets a growth-stimulating protein that appears in large quantities on cancer cells in about 30 percent of women with breast cancer, and also contains a drug that boosts white blood cells count. The results were presented at the American College of Surgeons meeting in Chicago in October.
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Premenopause Activity and Postmenopausal Breast Cancer
A study of Jewish women with a genetic mutation that gives them an 82 percent lifetime risk of developing the disease, appearing in the journal Science, October 24, showed that lifestyle during adolescence played a role in when these high-risk women developed breast cancer. The finding was consistent with earlier studies suggesting that among women in general, exercise and healthy weight early in life can reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer after menopause. Women who exercised actively when they were young through the age of 21, either dancing, or in team sports, or just walking a lot, and who maintained a healthful weight and were not obese, were protected from breast cancer. Researchers analyzed genes from 1,008 Ashkenazi Jewish women who had breast cancer and found that 104 of the patients had a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Half of the women had no immediate female relatives with breast or ovarian cancer suggesting most of those women inherited the mutated gene from their fathers. For women in general, the risk of breast cancer over a lifetime is about 10 percent. Among breast cancer patients generally, only 5 percent to 10 percent have the inherited BRCA mutation.
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Premenopausal Weight Gain Causes Post Menopausal Breast Cancer
Pre-menopausal weight gain is associated with an increased risk of post-menopausal breast cancer. Michelle Harvie, Ph.D., of the South Manchester University Hospitals in Manchester and colleagues, examined a weight-loss program to identify the link between weight loss and risk of developing cancer. The study showed that even a small weight loss, just five percent of an individual's body weight, might lower the risk of developing breast cancer. The study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
Women with dense breast tissue are at an increased risk of breast cancer when compared to women with less dense breast tissue. In a study of 1,223 women, Melinda Irwin, Ph.D., MPH, of Yale University and Yale Cancer Center, and colleagues found that lower amounts of dense breast tissue were associated with higher physical activity levels in premenopausal women with a BMI (body mass index) less than 30, providing further evidence that exercise may protect against breast cancer. Participants were enrolled in the Health, Eating, Activity and Lifestyle (HEAL) study, a multicenter study designed to examine the associations between physical activity, diet, weight, hormones, breast density, and other influences on breast cancer prognosis among newly diagnosed breast cancer survivors. Physical activity levels and breast density for this analysis were determined from information and mammographic films from the year prior to diagnosis. The study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
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Exercise Prevents Breast Cancer
In another study, researchers led by Leslie Bernstein and Michael F. Press of the University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles examined the association of lifetime exercise and the risk of breast carcinoma in situ (BCIS) in women. They found that the risk of BCIS was 35 percent lower among women who exercised regularly during their life compared to women who did not. Further analysis showed that this risk reduction was found only among women who had no family history of breast cancer. Demographics, hormone replacement therapy use, smoking history, menopause status and age of menarche did not alter the risk reduction effects of lifetime exercise.
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High Fat Diet Causes Breast Cancer
In another study, 378 women in Shanghai, China, who were diagnosed with breast cancer, were compared with 1,070 age-matched, unaffected control women. Dietary intake was determined through the completion of an in-depth food frequency questionnaire, which recorded such factors as food group and caloric intake. Researchers found that consumption of four or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day was associated with a significantly lower breast cancer risk. The study provides further support suggesting that the high cholesterol containing Western diet may be a major factor in the risk of developing breast cancer. Women need to modify their diets to include more fruits and vegetables to help prevent the disease. Jackelin Shannon, Ph.D., R.D., assistant professor of public health and preventive medicine in the Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, member of the OHSU Cancer Institute, was lead author of the study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
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High Cholesterol Causes Breast Cancer
A study published in the Journal of Women's Health finds that women who lowered cholesterol were significantly less likely to develop breast cancer than women who didn’t. In this study women who lowered cholesterol took cholesterol-lowering medications, instead of diet and exercise.
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New Mammography Technique
A new technique, the dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital subtraction mammography technique, accurately identifies breast cancers that are difficult to detect with conventional mammography, according to a study appearing in the October issue of the journal Radiology. Dual-energy, contrast-enhanced digital subtraction mammography involves the injection of a contrast agent to highlight new blood vessel development that accompanies malignant growth. Two images are taken at different energy levels and subtracted from one another to disclose the tumor. Similar techniques are being successfully employed in other areas of radiology.
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Breast Implants
Breast implants began selling in 1962 in the US. Complaints that they broke and caused illnesses began in the late 1980s. The FDA banned, in 1992, implants filled with silicone gel except for patients with breast cancer or a few other conditions who could get them by enrolling in carefully monitored research studies. Thousands of women sued the makers of silicone-filled implants and many suits ended in a major settlement approved in 1999. That same year, the Institute of Medicine declared there was no evidence that implants cause major illnesses like breast cancer or lupus, but warned they do frequently break open to cause pain, disfigurement and repeat surgery. However, studies published more recently, raised questions about other potential risks, such as whether implant recipients are more likely to commit suicide. Meanwhile, implants filled with saline, or salt water, became the only choice left for breast enlargement. In 2000, FDA formally approved saline-filled implants, and last year 236,000 women had breast enlargements, six times more than a decade earlier. According to some women, saline implants do not feel as natural and they complain that breast has become wrinkly like a deflating beach ball, while the silicone-filled breast remains taut.

Eleven years after most use of silicone-gel breast implants was banned amid fears they were dangerous, the Food and Drug Administration is considering letting them back on the U.S. market. Inamed Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif., reopened the controversy by asking the FDA for permission to sell its version of the implants in the United States, like it long has in Europe. A competitor also is expected to seek FDA approval soon. In a 9-to-6 vote, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended on October 15th that silicone breast implants be allowed back on the market.
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Dyspareunia
Pain during or after sexual intercourse is known as dyspareunia. Although this problem can affect men, it is more common in women. Women with dyspareunia may have pain in the vagina, clitoris or labia. There are numerous causes of dyspareunia, many of which are treatable. Common causes include: Vaginal dryness; Atrophic vaginitis, a common condition causing thinning of the vaginal lining in postmenopausal women; Side effects from drugs such as antihistamines and tamoxifen (Nolvadex); An allergic reaction to clothing, spermicides or douches; Endometriosis, an often painful condition in which tissue from the uterine lining migrates and grows abnormally inside the pelvis; Vulvar vestibulitis, which is inflammation of the area surrounding the vaginal opening; Skin diseases affecting the vaginal area; Urinary-tract infections, vaginal yeast infections, or sexually transmitted diseases; and Psychological trauma, often stemming from a past history of sexual abuse or trauma. Some causes of dyspareunia can be prevented. To decrease risk of yeast infection, avoid tight clothing, wear cotton underpants and practice good hygiene. Change your underclothes after prolonged sweating. Bathe or shower daily, and change into dry clothing promptly after swimming. To avoid bladder infections, wipe from front to back after using the toilet, and urinate after sexual intercourse. To avoid sexually transmitted diseases, practice abstinence or safe sex. Either maintain a relationship with just one person, or use condoms to protect against sexually transmitted diseases. To prevent vaginal dryness, use a lubricant, or seek treatment if the dryness is due to atrophic vaginitis. If you have endometriosis, avoid very deep penetration, or have sex during the week or two after menstruation (before ovulation), when the condition tends to be less painful.
Treatment depends on the cause of dyspareunia. If vaginal dryness is the problem, you can ease penetration and sexual intercourse with increased clitoral stimulation before intercourse or lubrication with an over-the-counter lubricant such as K-Y jelly, Replens or Astroglide. For vaginal yeast infections, you will be given antifungal medication. Antibiotics will be prescribed for urinary-tract infections or sexually transmitted diseases. To relieve painful inflammation, try sitz baths, which are warm-water baths in a sitting position. For skin diseases affecting the vaginal area, the treatment will vary depending on the disease. For example, lichen sclerosis and lichen planus often improve with steroid creams. For vulvar vestibulitis, typical therapies include topical estrogen cream, low-dose pain medications, and physical therapy with biofeedback to lower the muscle tension in the pelvic floor. For atrophic vaginitis, estrogen therapy will be prescribed, either as a vaginal formulation or as a pill. If endometriosis is causing your dyspareunia, you may be prescribed medication or you may need surgical procedures to control or remove abnormal growths of uterine tissue. For dyspareunia that has no apparent physical cause or has existed for months or years, you may need psychological counseling to address stress or anxiety regarding sexual intercourse.
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Intense Training and Puberty
Intense training has been found to delay the onset of puberty in females by altering normal hormonal development. This has led to delayed pubertal onset, delayed age at first menarche and failure to develop mature skeletal structure. However, intense training in young males does not appear to have significant effects on their resting testosterone and sexual maturation if body composition is within normal range, according to a study in the September 2003 edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology.
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Hypnosis Restores Menstruation
Amenorrhea is a condition in which a woman misses several menstrual periods in a row. Having too little body fat can trigger the condition, as can stress and poor nutrition. Intensive physical exercise may also cause a woman to stop getting her period. According to a report in Fertility and Sterility, October 2003, women who are not pregnant or going through menopause but who stop having their period, counseling and even hypnosis may help them start menstruating again. Teams of researchers from Boston and from Cambridge, England, reported their findings in New England Journal of Medicine in October. A group from Paris published its own findings in last week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which first posted them online on Aug. 27.
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Puberty Gene Discovered
There are a number of changes that occur during puberty, which usually starts between the ages of 8 and 13 for girls and between the ages of 9 and 14 for boys. The changes for boys include growth of hair in the genital area, armpits, face, legs and on the trunk and growth of penis and testicles for boys. The changes for girls include growth of hair in the genital area, armpits. Girls start menstruation as the ovaries mature and start to produce eggs. In the United States, girls get their periods at about age 12½. Of course, these changes occur at different ages in different teens. Adolescents of the same age but of different racial, tribal, caste or ethnic groups can also develop at very different rates. Environmental factors, such as nutrition, exposure to various chemicals, and even exercise play a role in the onset of puberty, in addition to the role of genes.

A gene needed to start puberty has been discovered by teams of researchers from Boston, USA and from Cambridge, England, who reported their findings on October 23rd in New England Journal of Medicine. A group from Paris published its own findings a weak before in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which first posted them online on Aug. 27. The gene is on the chromosome No. 19. One good copy of the gene is enough to start puberty. But two defective copies can keep the body from maturing, a condition that usually can be treated with hormones. This may occur when both parents have one defective copy of the gene. This gene was discovered by studying families in which cousins had married each other (consanguineous marriages).
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Physical Activity and Team Sports
Girls who are team members and who are also physically active may be less likely to use drugs, engage in risky sexual behavior or otherwise act carelessly, researchers report., researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say. Their report, in The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, said schools and communities should work to ease barriers to girls' involvement in team sports, especially girls who are members of minority groups.
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Fertility
Increased Infertility in America
According to new Census Bureau data from a June 2002 survey 26.7 million women aged 15 to 44 who are childless. They represent nearly 44 percent of women in that age group. The number of women 15 to 44 forgoing or putting off motherhood has grown nearly 10 percent since 1990, when roughly 24.3 million were in that class. Just over half of Asian women were childless, the highest rate among race and ethnic groups. It was 46 percent for non-Hispanic whites, 39 percent for blacks and 36 percent for Hispanics. Last year about 33 percent of all births were to unmarried women, roughly the same rate since 1998. Roughly 23 percent of the 25.8 million never-married women 15 to 44 were mothers in 2002, about the same rate from 1998 but up from 18 percent of the 20.7 million never-married women in 1990. There was a pronounced increase among never-married women in managerial or professional jobs who were mothers -- the percentage has nearly doubled from 9 percent in 1990 to 16 percent in 2002. The report also showed a birth rate of 61 births per 1,000 women 15 to 44 in 2002, down from 67 per 1,000 in 1990.
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Causes of Infertility
In addition to social circumstances, there are many reasons why a couple may have difficulty in conceiving a child. Disease, drugs, heredity, lifestyle habits or even exposure to certain toxins can affect fertility. A report published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that women who consume an excessive amount of caffeine — equivalent to five cups of coffee — take longer to get pregnant. Overall, those who consume the most caffeine had a 45 percent risk of waiting more than nine months before becoming pregnant. Caffeine is also thought to cause defects in male sperm. Alcohol increases the risk of miscarriage and also may damage the ovum before conception. Chemicals in cigarette smoke may kill sperm and reduce a man's ability to conceive. Women who smoke also have trouble getting pregnant and experience higher rates of miscarriage compared to women who don't smoke.
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Diabetes and Erectile Dysfunction
More than eight million men are at risk for erectile dysfunction (ED) induced by Type II (insulin resistant) diabetes. While the exact mechanism(s) involved in diabetes mellitus induced erectile dysfunction (DMED) is not yet understood, a team of researchers has hypothesized that certain proteins may regulate penile vascular tone increasing sensitivity to the action of vasoconstrictor agents. Their findings suggest that protein kinase C (PKC) may contribute to an enhanced vasoconstriction of the penile circulation and reduced erectile response. Constriction of the penile vasculature prevents erection and is largely mediated by two agents: á-adrenergic agonists or endothelin (ET-1). These agents cause vasoconstriction by activating phospholipase C (PLC) and result in the generation of inositol triphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG). This pathway is believed to recruit PKC in the constrictor response. Researchers have tested the hypothesis that in diabetic-obese Zucker rats, there is a depressed erectile response caused by increased action of the vasoconstrictor pathway involving PKC in a key sensitization process. The study entitled "Altered Penile Vascular Reactivity and Erection of the Zucker Rat: A Role for PKC Ca2+ Sensitization, was presented during the scientific conference, Understanding Renal and Cardiovascular Function Through Physiological Genomics, a meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS), held October 1-4, 2003 at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel and Convention Center, Augusta, GA.
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Body Fat and Infertility
Body fat can be bad for making babies, according to a study presented to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in October. Researchers at a fertility clinic in Atlanta examined sperm samples and found that excess weight can lead to a lower sperm count and a higher number of sperm with damaged DNA. The effect was most pronounced for obese men, those with a body mass index greater than 30. A BMI of 25 or more is considered overweight.
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Pot and Infertility
Two studies presented to presented to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in October suggest that marijuana use and excessive body fat may make it harder for a man's sperm to complete their upstream swim to fertilize an egg. The research also found that the marijuana smokers had only about half as many sperm per volume of semen as the control group of men who did not smoke marijuana. Women who smoke marijuana were also vulnerable to lower fertility because pot's ingredients pool up in the uterine fluids and affect the sperm.
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Male Contraception
A hormone-based contraceptive treatment that stops men from producing sperm has prevented pregnancy among 55 couples during a 12-month test. The study, a U.S. government-funded program sponsored by Virginia-based family planning organization CONRAD, was able to successfully and reversibly turn off sperm production in the men who took part. Over the 12 months of the trial, the men continually took implants of testosterone and injections of progestin, a reproductive hormone. The implants require minor surgery to put them under the skin. It took six to 12 months to the sperm levels of the all the male participants to recover to the levels they were at before undergoing the program- October edition of Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
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Fertility Problems and Premature Birth
The rate of premature births in the United States has jumped in the last 20 years from about 9.4 percent of all births to almost 12 percent. About a half million premature infants are born annually in the United States. Premature birth, when the baby is delivered before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is a major public health concern because underdeveloped babies are at increased risk of death in the first year of life and are more likely to develop heart, lung and brain disorders if they survive. Some pre-term births are caused by maternal or fetal stress, infections, high blood pressure, bleeding or stretching of the uterus. But in the rest, the reason is unknown. A study, published last week October in the journal Human Reproduction, indicates fertility troubles could explain part of the problem. Women who take more than a year to get pregnant have a slightly higher than normal chance of giving birth prematurely, new research indicates. Women who had trouble getting pregnant were about 40 percent more likely to give birth prematurely than those who conceived easily, the study found. Among the women who had conceived their first baby within a year, 5.4 percent gave birth prematurely, compared with 7.4 percent of the women who had trouble but eventually conceived naturally and 7.6 percent of women who had fertility treatment after at least a year of failing to get pregnant.
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Neuroscience
Prevention of Alzheimer’s
Participation in a variety of leisure activities during early and middle adult years appears to lower a risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in a recent issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. In an analysis of 107 twin pairs (same-sex twins born between 1886 and 1925), where one twin was diagnosed with some type of cognitive impairment while the other was cognitively intact, greater participation in leisure activities was found to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Leisure activities that the twins reported in the 1960s - then ages 42-68 - were reading, social visits, theater- and movie-going, club and organization participation, gardening and other outdoor activities, and playing sports.
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Sleep helps Memory
Scientists have found that sleep may restore memories lost during a hectic day. Researchers say sleep can rescue memories in a biological process of storing and consolidating them deep in the brain. The finding is one of several conclusions made in two studies that appeared on October 9, 2003 in the journal Nature. Researchers who conducted the experiments said the results might influence how students learn and could someday be incorporated into treatments for mental illnesses involving memories like post-traumatic stress disorder. In the separate studies, scientists at the University of Chicago and the Harvard Medical School trained college-age people to perform tasks, then tested them to see how much they recalled after either a night's sleep or several hours awake.
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Universe is a Soccer Ball
American and French scientists studied astronomical data which suggests the universe is finite and made of curved pentagons joined together into a sphere. In research reported in the October 9th edition of the journal Nature, the scientists said data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe, which maps background radiation left over from the Big Bang, is not consistent with an infinite universe.
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Diet and Exercise
Tea helps reduce LDLs
Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said they found consumers who drank black tea for three weeks experienced a decrease of between 7 percent and 11 percent in their low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or so-called bad cholesterol. There was no effect on the level of high-density lipoprotein, or the good type of cholesterol. The study was published in the October issue of the Journal of Nutrition. Separately, scientists also tested another group to rule out the effect of caffeine. Those who had regular tea saw their LDL levels drop about 11 percent compared with the caffeinated placebo.
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A few more steps everyday take you a long way!
A few thousand extra steps every day can take people who are usually sedentary a long way toward better health, according to a new study published in Preventive Medicine, October 2003. Most sedentary people log between 4,000 and 6,000 steps per day. Upping that to 10,000 steps represents about two miles of extra walking.
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Obesity Statistics
In a latest study presented on October 15th in Fort Lauderdale at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, co-sponsored by the American Diabetes Association., Gordon-Larsen and UNC colleagues reviewed the height and weight records of 9,561 people in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Participants, who were ages 13 to 20 when the study started, were weighed and measured until they were 19 to 26. Researchers found that overall, 27% were overweight and 22% obese by their 20s. About 11% were obese as teenagers at the start of the research and stayed that way, and another 11% became obese during this time period. Young blacks were found to have the highest obesity rates; Asians had the lowest rates. Overall, 31% of adults in the USA are obese.

The number of extremely obese American adults -- those who are at least 100 pounds overweight -- has quadrupled since the 1980s to about 4 million. That works out to about 1 in every 50 adults, according to the findings that appear in October 13th Archives of Internal Medicine. This is a wake-up call to America to eat less and walk a few thousand more steps everyday!
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Genes and Habits
Nir Barzilai, M.D. Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of the Institute for Aging Research, is a member the Diabetes Research Center where his laboratory focuses on the role of fat in aging and metabolism, carried out a case control study of the prevalence of certain chronic diseases in Ashkenazi Jews and their offspring compared to three control groups. Although the long-lived Ashkenazi Jews were ~ 33 years older than controls, their reported prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and stroke was significantly lower than found in NHANES III. These findings support the hypothesis that people who achieve exceptional longevity are relatively spared from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and have high HDL levels. Dr. Barzilai concludes, “there is a remarkable genetic component in the families with longevity, that offspring of subjects with longevity are significantly healthier than control populations, and that lipoprotein profile is different in these families, and may be associated with cognitive protection of a very old brain.” So, if you are an Ashkenazi Jew, you could eat whatever you want and be sedentary and yet live to be centenarian. However, the bottom line is that the exceptional longevity is related to high HDL levels. This may be achieved by doing more exercise and eating less.
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Couch Potatoes
According to researchers at the University of Minnesota, television and video watching among both boys and girls is linked to increased consumption of soft drinks, fried foods and snacks. On the other hand, researchers found that time spent reading and doing homework is associated with increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. The researchers urged that nutrition education incorporate messages about the influence of the media and advertising on dietary behaviors.
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Meat, Milk and Cancer
A non-human molecule found in red meat and milk makes its way into the human system when eaten and seems to build up especially in tumors, U.S. researchers, Dr. Ajit Varki and colleagues, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Varki, a non-vegetarian, noted that many studies have linked a diet rich in meat and milk with cancer, heart disease and other diseases. The compound, called sialic acid, is found on the surfaces of animal cells but is not found in people, and may be one reason why animal-to-human organ and tissue transplants do not work well. Animals have a version called Neu5Gc, while humans carry Neu5Ac. Researchers found it shows up in the human body from eating red meat and milk.
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Multivitamins and Colorectal Cancer
Taking multivitamins may modestly reduce a person's chances of getting colorectal cancer over a period of time. There is a long interval between the start of taking multivitamins and when the apparent protective effect kicks in. These new findings come from the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort, in which researchers examined the relationship between current and past use of multivitamins and the occurrence of colorectal cancer among more than 145,000 predominantly white, middle-aged or elderly adults. The study was reported in American Journal of Epidemiology, October 1, 2003.
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Fruits and Vegetables Protect from Stroke
Stroke is currently the third-leading cause of death in the United States, and is a major cause of serious, long-term disability. There are two major types of stroke. Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel ruptures within the brain. Ischemic stroke, or cerebral infarction, results when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel bringing oxygen and nutrients to the brain. According to a study of Japanese people reported in the September issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association eating fruits and green or yellow vegetables daily may protect against both major types of stroke.
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Healthy Bones from Fruits and Vegetables
The health related benefit of a high consumption of fruit and vegetables on a variety of disease has been gaining prominence in the literature over a number of years. A number of observational experimental clinical and intervention studies over the past decade have suggested a positive link between fruit and vegetable consumption and the skeleton (or bones). A variety of population based studies published in the later part of the 1900s and more recently between 2001 and 2003 have demonstrated a beneficial effect of fruit and vegetable potassium intake on indices of bone health in young boys and girls, premenopausal women, perimenopausal women, postmenopausal women and elderly men and women.
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Physical Activity
Heart disease and stroke result from damage to small blood vessels. Physical activity protects against damage to those vessels by such means as lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improving the ability of the vessels to widen when more blood flow is needed, and reducing the likelihood of a clot inside a blood vessel. The more physical activity a person does, the lower the risk of a stroke, a review of 23 international studies finds. Chong Do Lee, PhD, an assistant professor of sport and exercise sciences at West Texas A&M University is the lead author of the report in the October edition of the American Heart Association journal Stroke. Jogging 15 to 20 minutes a day on most days would qualify as highly active. Moderate activity would be the equivalent of brisk walks of 30 minutes a day on most days. The researchers drew data from some of the largest examinations of the effects of physical activity on health. Among these are the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and three databases run by Harvard University researchers, which followed male doctors, female nurses and male Harvard alumni. These studies previously had helped to establish the benefit of exercise against heart disease.
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Broccoli, cooking makes a difference
A study, published in the November issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, found that broccoli cooked by microwave lost 74 percent to 97 percent of its antioxidant compounds, which are believed to be healthful. The researchers, from the University of Murcia at Espinardo, found by contrast that broccoli cooked by steaming lost less than 10 percent of the same chemicals.
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Spices and Herbs
Ginger
Use of spices in daily cooking is a common practice in the Indian Continent. The medicinal value of spices was recognized by Ayurvedic physicians thousands of years ago and was codified in Ayurveda. Common spices like ginger have not only culinary interest and digestive benefits, but also cancer preventive ingredients. The ginger family has been used for thousands of years in the treatment and prevention of various illnesses in the Indian Continent and Asia, and has been hypothesized to have anti-cancer and therapeutic properties. Ann M. Bode, Ph.D. and Zigang Dong, Ph.D., researchers at the Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, recently determined that ginger compounds might be effective in preventing and potentially treating colorectal cancer. Their study was presented on October 29th at the American Association for Cancer Research's Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
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Chinese Mint
A Chinese herb, Scutellaria barbata (SB), a species related to mint of the Labiate family, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat several illnesses, including cancers of the liver, lung and rectum. In a study, presented by researchers from Union College in Nebraska, SB was found to slow the progression of prostate tumors in mice, suggesting potential chemopreventive effects. The study was presented on October 29th at the American Association for Cancer Research's Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
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Green Tea
Green tea is believed to help lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, fight bacteria and dental cavities, and possibly aid weight loss. Laboratory studies have suggested that green tea consumption may produce many health benefits, including the prevention of cancer, but the beneficial effects in humans are not clearly known.

EGCG (epigallocatchin-3-gallate) is the most abundant and active chemopreventive agent in green tea, and has been associated with reduced risk of breast, pancreatic, colon, esophageal and lung cancers in humans. However, EGCG has a low oral bioavailability. To sustain effective levels for biological activity, individuals would need to drink at least seven to eight cups of tea a day, or ingest large amounts of green tea polyphenol extract. Researchers from SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., have successfully synthesized several EGCG analogs that inhibit the in vitro (in an artificial environment) growth of tumor cell lines with potencies equal to or greater than EGCG itself.

Researchers at the Texas Tech University System recently evaluated the role of Green tea polyphenols on two biomarkers for liver cancer, aflatoxin markers and urinary excretion of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and affirmed the effectiveness of GTP in reducing these risk factors. These studies were presented on October 29th at the American Association for Cancer Research's Second Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.
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Smoking
Smoking, the Killer
Tobacco-related illnesses claim the lives of 165,000 women each year with lung cancer responsible for the lion's share of those deaths. According to Society for Women's Health Research, lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer for both men and women in the United States. Although the number of cases seems to be decreasing among men, it continues to rise among women, according to the American Lung Association. In 2001, a surgeon general report warned that women are confronting a "full-blown epidemic" of smoking-related illnesses. In 2003, it is estimated that lung cancer will claim more lives than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined. Part of this rise may be attributed to the cohort of smokers from the 1950's and 1960's, when it became more “acceptable” for women to smoke. According to the American Lung Association, approximately eighty seven percent of lung cancer cases can be attributed to tobacco smoke. Evidence from numerous studies has shown that many of the chemicals found in cigarette smoke are carcinogens. One out of five American women smokes cigarettes, according to data from the National Women's Health Information Center. In addition, more young women and girls are taking up the smoking habit despite the current knowledge about tobacco and lung cancer.
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Lung Cancer
Lung cancer usually does not cause symptoms in the early stages, making early detection a challenge for the medical community. When the symptoms appear, the cancer has often advanced. Symptoms include: chronic cough, coughing up blood, weight loss, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, wheezing, chest pain and recurring episodes of respiratory illness including bronchitis and pneumonia. The risk of lung cancer decreases significantly after a person has quit smoking.
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How to Quit Smoking
Put it in writing. Why do you want to quit? Write the reasons in a list, and refer to it frequently. You may even want to tape the list to your bathroom mirror and repeat it to yourself every morning.
Buy flowers. They smell nicer than smoke.
Go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned. Use mouthwash. Brush your teeth after each meal. Get to the point where anything other than a fresh, smokeless taste is unappealing.
If you're used to having a smoke with your coffee or cocktail, avoid those drinks for now. More healthful alternatives: Fruit juices and water.
Keep your money. Take the cash you normally would have spent on cigarettes and buy yourself something nice.
Keep your fingers busy. Find something other than a cigarette to fiddle with, such as a ball-point pen. Try doing crossword puzzles. Needlework is an artistically satisfying alternative.
Chew on something. Smoking is orally gratifying. Chew on a plastic straw instead. Toothpicks work, too.
Go where smoking isn't permitted. There are lots of places, such as public libraries, museums, many stores, malls, certain restaurants and houses of worship.
Socialize with the non-smokers. If you're at a party, palling around with the cigarette crowd will only lead you into temptation.
When the urge is overpowering: Bite into a healthful, crunchy treat. Celery stalks, apple slices and carrot sticks will take the bite out of the craving.
Hit the showers. Taking a shower or bath will relax you.
Use some basic relaxation exercises. Do pranayama. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Try to relax your muscles as you concentrate on a peaceful image, such as sunset at the beach or rocking your child or grandchild to sleep. Whatever you do, don't give in. You'll be tempted to "just have one." Chances are, it will become the first one of many more.
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Skin Cancer
Melanoma risk is highest among fair-skinned people in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. Since the 1950s, the rate of the skin cancer has tripled in Norway and Sweden, where light skin is common. About 50,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed annually in the United States and about 7,500 people die of the disease each year, according to American Academy of Dermatology. In a study appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, an international group of researchers analyzed data from the Women's Lifestyle and Health Cohort Study in Norway and Sweden. In 1991 and 1992, 106,379 women completed extensive questionnaires about their exposure to sunlight and to artificial tanning. In 1999, the researchers rechecked the women's cancer status using the national health registries in Norway and Sweden. The study found the strongest evidence yet that artificial sun tanning could be dangerous to healthy skin. In the study, researchers also found that the risk of melanoma from sun exposure was about twice as high for blondes than for women with dark brown or black hair. For red-haired women, the risk was about four times as high.
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