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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2015 at 9:36am

High-fat dairy products linked to reduced type 2 diabetes risk
Consumption of high-fat yogurt and cheese are linked to a reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as a fifth, according to new research from Lund University in Sweden. High meat consumption, on the other hand, is linked to a higher risk. The findings, which have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, are in line with previous studies of eating habits that indicated a link between high consumption of dairy products and a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

However, the new study indicates that it is high-fat dairy products specifically that are associated with reduced risk.

“Those who ate the most high-fat dairy products had a 23 per cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who ate the least. High meat consumption was linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes regardless of the fat content of the meat”, said Ulrika Ericson, who conducted the study.
The researchers studied the eating habits of 27 000 individuals aged 45 to 74. The participants took part in the Malmö Diet and Cancer study in the early 1990s, in which they provided details of their eating habits. Twenty years on, over ten per cent – 2 860 people – had developed type 2 diabetes.

The aim of the study has been to clarify the significance of fat in food for the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Instead of focusing on the total intake of saturated fat, the researchers looked at different sources of saturated fat.

Both meat and dairy products contain saturated fat, but certain saturated fatty acids are particularly common in dairy products. This difference could be one of the reasons why most studies show that those who eat meat are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas those who eat a lot of dairy products appear to have a lower risk.

“When we investigated the consumption of saturated fatty acids that are slightly more common in dairy products than in meat, we observed a link with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. However, we have not ruled out the possibility that other components of dairy products such as yoghurt and cheese may have contributed to our results. We have taken into account many dietary and lifestyle factors in our analysis, such as fermentation, calcium, vitamin D and physical activity. However, there may be other factors that we have not been able to measure that are shared by those who eat large quantities of high-fat dairy products. Moreover, different food components can interact with each other. For example, in one study, saturated fat in cheese appeared to have less of a cholesterol-raising effect than saturated fat in butter.

“Our results suggest that we should not focus solely on fat, but rather consider what foods we eat. Many foodstuffs contain different components that are harmful or beneficial to health, and it is the overall balance that is important.”
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2015/04/01/ajcn.114.103010

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 2, 2015 at 10:11am

Loneliness might drive elders to physicians more frequently according to a study:
Experiences of loneliness and social isolation can lead to increased health care use among older adults, according to new research from the University of Georgia College of Public Health. The study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, found that the frequency of physician visits was particularly influenced by chronic loneliness—and suggests that the identification and targeting of interventions for lonely elders may significantly decrease physician visits and health care costs.
Loneliness as a Public Health Issue: The Impact of Loneliness on Health Care Utilization Among Older Adults

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302427

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 2, 2015 at 10:08am

Shift to LGB identity in early adulthood tied to depressive symptoms
People whose sexual identity changed toward same-sex attraction in early adulthood reported more symptoms of depression in a nationwide survey than those whose sexual orientations did not change or changed in the opposite direction, according to a new study by a University of Illinois at Chicago sociologist.

“Sexual Orientation Identity Change and Depressive Symptoms: A Longitudinal Analysis,” published in the current issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that gay, lesbian and bisexual people who initially identified as heterosexual or who had not reported same-sex romantic attraction or relationships were more likely to experience depressive symptoms than others.

Individuals who reported stable sexual identities throughout the survey period – whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, or heterosexual – had no change in depressive symptoms over time. Similarly, individuals who reported identities that were less same-sex-oriented did not experience increases in depression.
The findings suggest that a sexual identity change toward same-sex attraction may continue to be a stressful life event.
Sexual Orientation Identity Change and Depressive Symptoms
A Longitudinal Analysis
http://hsb.sagepub.com/content/56/1/37

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 2, 2015 at 7:37am

People say body odour is one of the most annoying things they face. Now science is providing a solution to the problem of body odour: Sweaty people around the world may one day sing the praises of science now.

Researchers in England have made a groundbreaking genetic discovery about bacteria called Staphylococcus hominis. They are some of the bacteria that live in your underarm microbiome. They make body odor smell less than pleasant by breaking down naturally secreted molecules that are in sweat.
The scientists -- Daniel Bawdon and Gavin Thomas of York, along with Gordon James and Diana Cox of Unilever, which makes personal care products -- presented their research this week at the Society for General Microbiology's annual conference in Birmingham, England.
They've identified the genes encoding the proteins responsible for producing free thioalcohols, an important component of what makes people stinky when they sweat. It's part of the reason unwashed gym clothes smell worse on a second day. These bacteria have had a longer time to lunch on sweat and produce more thioalcohols.

One gene the researchers found was not just in Staphylococcus hominis, but also in two other Staphylococcus species that produce thioalcohols. It turns out you only need a tiny number of these bacteria to create an "extremely smelly amount" of this odor, often described as having an oniony smell or the smell of rotten eggs, according to the researchers. They may now know what path to travel to stop this chemical process from happening.
Good hygiene helps only little. Your genes can also play a big role in how good or bad you smell. In fact some people, no matter how much they shower, still smell bad. These individuals have a larger amount of "bad" bacteria.

The approach now is to replace the "bad" bacteria that produce the smell with "good" bacteria. And it worked in lab conditions.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 1, 2015 at 8:39am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 1, 2015 at 8:27am

Poverty Shrinks Brains from Birth
Studies show that children from low-income families have smaller brains and lower cognitive abilities
The stress of growing up poor can hurt a child’s brain development starting before birth, research suggests—and even very small differences in income can have major effects on the brain.
The brains of children from the lowest income bracket—less than US$25,000—had up to 6% less surface area than did those of children from families making more than US$150,000, the researchers found. In children from the poorest families, income disparities of a few thousand dollars were associated with major differences in brain structure, particularly in areas associated with language and decision-making skills. Children's scores on tests measuring cognitive skills, such as reading and memory ability, also declined with parental income.
http://www.nature.com/news/poverty-shrinks-brains-from-birth-1.17227

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 1, 2015 at 7:24am

Super-efficient graphene lightbulbs:
A lightbulb made from wonder-material graphene will reportedly go on sale later this year, and it's promising to be brighter, cheaper, longer-lasting and use 10 percent less energy than even the best LEDs.

The dimmable lightbulb contains a filament-shaped LED that's coated in graphene, a one-atom-thick material that's 200 times stronger than steel, super flexible and also extremely conductive. If all goes to plan, this will be the first commercial graphene product to hit the market.
It's the conductive ability of graphene that makes the light bulbs so efficient, according to the developers at the University of Manchester in the UK, where the material was first discovered in 2004.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 1, 2015 at 7:02am

New research: The location of memories: Individual neurons
Scientists have shown, for the first time ever, that memories are stored in specific brain cells. By triggering a small cluster of neurons, the researchers were able to force the subject to recall a specific memory. By removing these neurons, the subject would lose that memory.
In the experiment, scientists gave mice an electric shock to create a fear memory in the hippocampus region of the brain and then later, using laser light, activated the neurons where the memory was stored. The mice “quickly entered a defensive, immobile crouch,” strongly suggesting the fear memory was being recalled.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7394/full/nature11028.html
A similar work published in e-Life also says the same!

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 1, 2015 at 6:11am

A one thousand year old Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infections which originates from a manuscript in the British Library has been found to kill the modern-day superbug MRSA in an unusual research collaboration at The University of Nottingham.

Dr Christina Lee, an Anglo-Saxon expert from the School of English has enlisted the help of microbiologists from University’s Centre for Biomolecular Sciences to recreate a 10th century potion for eye infections from Bald’s Leechbook an Old English leatherbound volume in the British Library, to see if it really works as an antibacterial remedy. The Leechbook is widely thought of as one of the earliest known medical textbooks and contains Anglo-Saxon medical advice and recipes for medicines, salves and treatments.

Early results on the 'potion', tested in vitro at Nottingham and backed up by mouse model tests at a university in the United States, are, in the words of the US collaborator, “astonishing”. The solution has had remarkable effects on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which is one of the most antibiotic-resistant bugs costing modern health services billions.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 1, 2015 at 6:01am

Ancient onion and garlic remedy kills antibiotic-resistant bugs ... and it is 1000 years old!
A 1,000-year-old Anglo-Saxon ‘eye salve’ made from onion, garlic, wine and part of a cow’s stomach has been shown to wipe out 90 percent of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA. And it works better than modern antibiotics in both lab and mouse models.

The 9th Century ‘eye salve’ recipe was originally found in Bald’s Leechbook - an old English manuscript held by the British Library.
It was translated from ancient Anglo-Saxon by researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK, in the hopes of finding new solutions to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance - which a recent report has predicted will kill 300 million people by 2050. But the team wasn't expecting to find something so potent.
To find out whether the ancient eye salve worked, they made the recipe as faithfully as possible - even using wine from a vineyard that existed back in the 9th Century - and then tested it against large MRSA cultures in the lab. They also tested each individual ingredient on its own against the superbugs, as well as a control solution.

Incredibly, they found that the eye salve killed up to 90 percent of MRSA bacteria, but only when all the ingredients were used together.
The team then went on to test the salve on biofilms of MRSA - sticky colonies of bacteria that are notoriously difficult for antibiotics to penetrate, and which pose a particular problem on hospital equipment. The results were the same.

The next step was to ship the eye salve off to the United States where it was tested on in vivo mouse wounds as a topical treatment. Again, it wiped out most of the MRSA cells after just 24 hours and was more efficient than modern antibiotics.
The team presented their findings at the Annual Conference of the Society for General Microbiology, in Birmingham recently. However they're still not sure exactly how the remedy works, and finding that out will be the next step.
Bald's eye salve

- Equal amounts of garlic and another allium (onion or leek), finely chopped and crushed in a mortar for two minutes.

- Add 25ml (0.87 fl oz) of English wine - in this case, taken from a historic vineyard near Glastonbury.

- Dissolve bovine salts in distilled water, add and then keep chilled for nine days at 4 degrees Celsius before straining through a cloth to remove particulates.

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