Antidepressant drugs MAY make you live longer

American researchers are suggesting that antidepressant drugs may possibly lengthen a person's lifespan.

The researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle have come up with this possibility following research with nematode worms which are a very basic life form.

In the study the tiny worms were exposed to as many as 88,000 chemicals drug compounds before four drugs were found that extended life span by 20 to 30 percent.

One of these drugs was Mianserin, which belongs to a class of drugs known as tetracyclic antidepressants, which proved to be the most effective in that it extended the lifespan of the worms by almost a third.

The drug apparently mimics the effects on the body of the only known animal long-life regime - virtual starvation.

Experts say the findings might indicate genes in humans that could be targeted to increase lifespan and possibly to identify additional genes important in ageing.

Dr. Linda Buck of the research center says it remains unclear why, depriving the body of all but the minimum amount of calories needed to survive seems to enhance longevity but the Seattle team believe they may have found an easier way to achieve the same effect.

Nematode worms are ideal subjects for studies into lifespan, they are similar in many ways to humans as they have a central nervous system and sexual reproduction; they also only live for only a matter of weeks.

Dr. Buck says they are unable to explain it but it is possible the drug disturbed the balance of two brain chemicals which help the nematode decide whether there is enough food around to justify laying eggs and this, might produce a "perceived, but not real" state of starvation.

Dr. Buck says that finding a chemical that increased lifespan in animals might point to genes in humans that could be targeted to do the same and it may be possible to identify additional genes important in ageing.

The researchers say such life-extending benefits however come at a cost with weight gain and increased appetite some of the side effects which is why the drugs are not popular antidepressants.

It's a bald fact...smoking makes your hair fall out!

According to new research apart from the plethora of illnesses associated with smoking the habit can make men prematurely bald.

Smoking has been linked to lung disease, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke and cataracts and cancers as well as impotence and tobacco-related diseases are some of the biggest killers in the world today.

Now a study by scientists, led by Dr Lin-hui Su, from the Far Eastern memorial hospital in Taiwan, has shown that smoking cigarettes can also encourage male hair loss.

Scientists say male baldness, or androgenetic alopecia, is a hereditary matter and caused in part by the male sex hormones.

Male baldness varies between different races and as a rule Asian men are less likely to become bald as they age than white Europeans or Americans but early hair loss in a smoker may be a warning signal of more serious damage elsewhere in the body.

The scientists became aware of the connection between smoking and baldness after conducting a survey of 740 Taiwanese men with an average age of 65.

The survey collected information on the age at which the men started losing their hair, the risk factors which may have affected their hair loss, and their smoking history and the men's height and weight were measured, and blood samples analysed.

The results showed that smoking led to significantly more baldness even after taking other factors into account.

The risk of hair loss though it increased with advancing age, nevertheless remained lower than the average risk for Caucasian men.

The researchers suggest that smoking may damage the micro-circulation supplying blood to the follicles.

The research is published in the journal Archives of Dermatology.

New way to burn off calories

A new study in the September issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, points to a new method for burning off all those irresistible extra calories-by turning on an energy-draining, but otherwise futile, cycle of protein synthesis and breakdown.

Christopher Lynch of The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and his colleagues found that they could drive such heightened protein turnover in mice by disrupting an enzyme involved in the metabolism of some amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The enzyme-deficient animals showed elevated blood levels of the essential amino acid leucine, an important nutrient signal, and became slimmer than normal mice despite eating more food. They also showed "remarkable" improvements in glucose and insulin tolerance, and resistance to becoming obese on a high-fat diet.

"The mice on the outside look normal, just skinnier and smaller," Lynch said. "After looking at their metabolism, we found that for the same activity, they were using more energy."

Moreover, the researchers found that the animals that ate the most food also expended the most energy. "That would be ideal for people who are overweight," Lynch said. "They could continue to eat and just waste the energy and be thin."

Abundant food supplies and a sedentary lifestyle have contributed to the current epidemic of obesity in Western nations, the researchers said. Obesity results when people consume more energy in their diet than they expend. In both short-term and relatively long-term studies, high-protein and low-fat diets have been found to increase energy expenditure, they noted, while short-term protein intake helps stave off hunger.

The effects of dietary protein are thought to be driven at least in part by leucine and perhaps other so-called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Yet it has remained unclear whether leucine supplementation actually improves or worsens obesity, Lynch said.

In the current study, the researchers generated mice lacking the enzyme BCATm, critical for the first step in BCAA breakdown, which caused their leucine levels to rise by more than 10-fold. As a result of the enzyme deficiency, the animals ate more food but were lean in comparison to normal mice. The researchers traced the effect to an energy-demanding increase in protein turnover that appeared to be directly related to the amount of food the mice ate.

"Unfortunately for dieters, it appears unlikely that the tactic used by the [mutant mice] to avoid weight gain, i.e., a big increase in protein turnover, can be achieved by merely ingesting high-protein diets or leucine supplements," said Susan Fried and Malcolm Watford in an accompanying commentary. An earlier study found that eating leucine can only increase its levels to twice the normal concentration, they noted. And unlike the enzyme disruption, dietary leucine stimulates protein synthesis while it slows protein breakdown.

Nonetheless, the scientists all agree that the findings could lead to new weight-loss therapies. "It is possible that revving up protein turnover by manipulating BCATm activity through pharmacological means is worth exploring as a treatment for obesity in humans," Fried and Watford said.

http://www.cellpress.com/

Psychiatrists are the least religious of all physicians

A nationwide survey of the religious beliefs and practices of American physicians has found that the least religious of all medical specialties is psychiatry.

Among psychiatrists who have a religion, more than twice as many are Jewish and far fewer are Protestant or Catholic, the two most common religions among physicians overall.

The study, published in the September 2007 issue of Psychiatric Services, also found that religious physicians, especially Protestants, are less likely to refer patients to psychiatrists, and more likely to send them to members of the clergy or to a religious counselor.

"Something about psychiatry, perhaps its historical ties to psychoanalysis and the anti-religious views of the early analysts such as Sigmund Freud, seems to dissuade religious medical students from choosing to specialize in this field," said study author Farr Curlin, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. "It also seems to discourage religious physicians from referring their patients to psychiatrists."

"Previous surveys have documented the unusual religious profile of psychiatry," he said, "but this is the first study to suggest that that profile leads many physicians to look away from psychiatrists for help in responding to patients' psychological and spiritual suffering."

"Because psychiatrists take care of patients struggling with emotional, personal and relational problems," Curlin said, "the gap between the religiousness of the average psychiatrist and her average patient may make it difficult for them to connect on a human level."

In 2003, to learn about the contribution of religious factors on physicians' clinical practices, Curlin and colleagues surveyed 1,820 practicing physicians from all specialties, including an augmented number of psychiatrists; 1,144 (63%) physicians responded, including 100 psychiatrists.

The survey contained questions about medical specialties, religion, and measures of what the researchers called intrinsic religiosity-the extent to which individuals embrace their religion as the "master motive that guides and gives meaning to their life."

Although 61 percent of all American physicians were either Protestant (39%) or Catholic (22%), only 37 percent of psychiatrists were Protestant (27%) or Catholic (10%). Twenty-nine percent were Jewish, compared to 13 percent of all physicians. Seventeen percent of psychiatrists listed their religion as "none," compared to only 10 percent of all doctors.

Curlin's survey also included this brief vignette, designed to present "ambiguous symptoms of psychological distress" as way measure the willingness of physicians to refer patients to psychiatrists.

"A patient presents to you with continued deep grieving two months after the death of his wife. If you were to refer the patient, to which of the following would you prefer to refer first" (a psychiatrist or psychologist, a clergy member or religious counselor, a health care chaplain, or other)."

Overall, 56 percent of physicians indicated they would refer such a patient to a psychiatrist or psychologist, 25 percent to a clergy member or other religious counselor, 7 percent to a health care chaplain and 12 percent to someone else.

Although Protestant physicians were only half as likely to send the patient to a psychiatrist, Jewish physicians were more likely to do so. Least likely were highly religious Protestants who attended church at least twice a month and looked to God for guidance "a great deal or quite a lot."

"Patients probably seek out, to some extent, physicians who share their views on life's big questions," Curlin said. That may be especially true in psychiatry, where communication is so essential. The mismatch in religious beliefs between psychiatrists and patients may make it difficult for patients suffering from emotional or personal problems to find physicians who share their fundamental belief systems.

http://www.uchospitals.edu/

Gastric Bypass Reduces Disease Related Deaths Among Severely Obese

A new US study shows that severely obese patients who have gastric bypass surgery have a significantly lower risk of death from cancer, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. However non-disease related deaths are likely to be higher among gastric bypass patients than those who do not have surgery, the researchers concluded.

The study is published in the 23rd August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and was led by scientists based at the University of Utah School of Medicine and LDS Hospital.

Lead author, Dr Ted D. Adams, professor at the Division of Cardiovascular Genetics in the University of Utah School of Medicine and co-founder of the Intermountain Health and Fitness Institute of LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, said that:

"This study helps to further define the effects of gastric bypass surgery on long-term mortality."

"Reduction in death by any cause, and disease-specific deaths such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and cancer were significantly reduced in surgery patients compared to the non-surgical control group," he added.

But, he explained that: "rates of death not caused by disease were shown to be greater in those who underwent the weight-loss surgery when compared to controls".

The research took 14 years and involved 15,850 obese patients, 84 per cent of whom were women. Half of the participants had gastric bypass surgery to reduce weight.

The average BMI (body mass index, weight in kilos divided by the square of the height in metres) of the surgery group was 45.3 and 46.7 for the non surgery group.

The results showed that:

• Deaths due to coronary heart disease were 56 per cent lower in the group that had surgery compared to the non surgery group.
• Deaths due to cancer were 60 per cent lower in the surgery group than the non surgery group.
• Deaths due to diabetes were 92 per cent lower in the surgery group than the non surgery group.
• But, deaths due to other non disease causes such as accidents and suicide were 58 per cent higher in the surgery group than the non surgery group.

The study concluded that:

" Long-term total mortality after gastric bypass surgery was significantly reduced, particularly deaths from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. However, the rate of death from causes other than disease was higher in the surgery group than in the control group."

The study suggests that perhaps the non disease caused deaths could be due to mood related or post traumatic stress disorders that existed pre surgery but went undiagnosed. These disorders are said to be more prevalent in obese patients.

Adams said the study showed there was a need to improve the way patients are assessed for surgery and this assessment should include psychological and psychiatric evaluation as well as follow up.

The reduction in deaths associated with disease is highly plausible because after gastric bypass obese patients usually have lower blood pressure, reduced sleep apnea, and also less severe diabetes, and in some cases the diabetes is resolved, explained Adams.

Another study carried out on Swedish patients appears in the same issue of the NEJM with similar results, although the Swedish surgery group also included banding procedures as well as surgical bypasses.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. George Bray of Louisiana State University suggests that national guidelines for assessing the threshold for gastric bypass and other bariatric surgery should perhaps be re-examined in the light of these results.

However, another bariatric surgery specialist, Dr John Alverdy from the University of Chicago told the city's Tribune newspaper that it was unlikely things would change very much in the US as a result of these studies.

"Even though the risk-benefit ratio is in favor of the surgery and it is cost-effective, not every insurance company covers it, not every doctor believes in it, and not everyone has access to hospitals that do it," Alverdy said to the Chicago Tribune.

He said there is a belief that diet and exercise can cure obesity, and that it is the patient's fault they are obese. This makes patients reticent about seeking surgery and makes some doctors hesitant about recommending it.

This is in spite of the fact research shows that genetics and environment and not just "volition alone" play a role in the development of the disorder, said Alverdy to the newspaper.

"Long-Term Mortality after Gastric Bypass Surgery."
Adams, Ted D., Gress, Richard E., Smith, Sherman C., Halverson, R. Chad, Simper, Steven C., Rosamond, Wayne D., LaMonte, Michael J., Stroup, Antoinette M., Hunt, Steven C.
N Engl J Med 2007 357: 753-761
Volume 357:753-761; August 23, 2007; Number 8

Glaucoma: Be Cautious about water intake

In this era of fitness every- one is concerned about what he/she is eating. Everyone is calorie conscious and prefers drinking a lot of water/fluids. It is generally good for everybody, but not for a glaucoma patient.

Glaucoma or “Kala Motia” is a disease where eye pressure increases to a level that is not safe for the optic nerve. The balance between the fluid produced inside the eye and drained out from the eye is disturbed, resulting in increased pressure and damage to the optic nerve.

Glaucoma presents in different forms like open angle glaucoma, angle closure glaucoma and secondary glaucoma. Also there are various factors which affect the progression of glaucoma. In angle closure glaucoma the fluid drainage is affected.

Water therapy and different shuddhi-kriyas as per yoga are commonly practised in our country. There is a belief that taking a large quantity of water in early morning helps in bowel movement and flushes the body clean. In this water therapy the person drinks almost four-six glasses of water at a time in the morning empty stomach. This may do well for his/her digestive system, but create problems for the eye of the glaucoma patient. Many people are not aware of this.

Anything which overloads our body fluid will increase the load on the drainage system. When one drinks a large amount of water like this, it gets absorbed in the fluid spaces of the body. So, fluid in the eye is produced in excess quantity. This increases the load on the drainage system of the eye.

In angle closure glaucoma the drainage system is affected and so will lead to a rise in the eye pressure. Such intake of a large quantity of fluids in a short span will give rise to short spikes of increase in the eye pressure that may be missed on an examination by the eye specialist. So, this type of glaucoma may get presented or aggravated if one drinks a lot of water in a short span.

Every patient of glaucoma or having a family history of glaucoma should be cautious about the water therapy. In the case of such patients, if they continue the water therapy habit, glaucoma may progress in spite of the best treatment. This should not be practised in families with glaucoma. Glaucoma is a multifactorial disease and one needs to control this factor as far as possible.

The water drinking test, commonly used to detect such cases of glaucoma, is based on similar observations. During this test we check the eye pressure after drinking one litre of water in a short time.

The eye pressures are checked every half an hour for two hours. Persons with a positive water drinking test should avoid large quantities of fluid intake empty stomach in the morning.

Be careful and watch for your glass of water!

The writer is Chairman and Medical Director, Centre for Sight, New Delhi. E-mail: msachdev@bol.net.in

Good cholesterol may be a bad guy after all!

Scientists are warning that the good cholesterol (HDL) known for it's ability to protect against heart disease, can turn nasty.

Research from the U.S. has shown that that some of the many proteins within HDL are potentially destructive and if too many are present in the molecule they could outweigh the beneficial effects of other proteins.

They say defective forms of high density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good" cholesterol, might make it harmful.

High density lipoprotein (HDL) is the bad side of the low density lipoprotein (LDL), which is in the main one responsible for the build up of hard deposits or plaques on the walls of arteries that can lead to heart disease.

HDL helps prevent such inflammation by cleaning up the arteries by removing cholesterol from their walls, and it may also stop the formation of blood clots caused by plaques rupturing, which cause most heart attacks.

It is assumed that people with high levels of HDL in comparison with LDL have extra protection against heart disease.

People can elevate their levels of HDL by consuming omega-3 fatty acids, found in oily fish, olive oil and other sources of monounsaturated fat, and small amounts of alcohol.

Dr. Jay Heinecke, from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, the study leader, says simply boosting HDL levels may not be enough to prevent heart disease because the right proteins in HDL might have to be targeted.

Dr. Heinecke's team carried out a detailed analysis of the composition of HDL and found it contained 48 proteins of which 22 were involved in the cholesterol chemistry, and 13 which had not been seen in HDL before.

Dr. Heinecke says HDL is still a big mystery and there is much which is unknown about heart disease.

Heinecke says that heart attacks can occur in people whose cholesterol levels appear normal and that conventional diagnostic tests for cholesterol levels do not always give a clear picture of the disease.

Experts say important interventions for fighting heart disease include exercise, a well-balanced diet, and taking heart medications as prescribed.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and was presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

New Cockayne syndrome discovery

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have shown that the genetic defect that causes Cockayne Syndrome affects a key function of the cell - the transcription of genes coding for ribosomal RNA.

Cockayne Syndrome is a recessively inherited disorder that belongs to a group of diseases in which defects in one of the numerous DNA repair systems lead to non-functioning proteins and, thus, to severe health impairments. These disorders also include, for example, Xeroderma pigmentosum and a type of hereditary bowel cancer.

However, symptoms of Cockayne Syndrome, which is a very rare disease, are particularly severe, including dwarfism, mental retardation, hearing and vision impairments; affected individuals have a characteristically formed small head, they age prematurely and die younger. The scale of these defects suggested that a dysfunctional DNA repair mechanism alone cannot be responsible for this whole range of impairments.

Cockayne Syndrome is characterized by a defect in the CSB protein, which is the main component of a particular DNA repair system. Research results of several working groups had already suggested that CSB is additionally involved in transcription, i.e. the conversion of DNA to RNA. However, the exact mechanism had remained unknown.

In each cell, various RNA types are responsible for specific tasks. Thus, the so-called rRNA is a key component of the ribosomes, the protein factories of the cell. A research group headed by Professor Dr. Ingrid Grummt of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) has now shown that CSB is pivotal in the production of rRNA molecules.

A basic prerequisite for the conversion of DNA to RNA is the accessibility of genes, which are normally tightly packed in the chromosome. Only if the genes are accessible can the enzyme RNA polymerase go about its work and synthesize new RNA molecules according to the DNA code. This is where CBS comes into play: It functions as an adapter between polymerase and the G9a protein, which acts like an icebreaker - making specific regions of the genetic material accessible for polymerase by chemically modifying the protein scaffold of the chromosome.

Without functioning CBS, the binding of polymerase I and G9a fails and the genes coding for rRNAs remain inaccessible for polymerase. The lack of rRNAs eventually leads to a standstill of protein synthesis in the cell - the most dramatic of imaginable consequences for an organism. This newly discovered function of CBS explains why a defect of this enzyme has such severe effects on the organism.

The task of the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum in Heidelberg (German Cancer Research Center, DKFZ) is to systematically investigate the mechanisms of cancer development and to identify cancer risk factors. The results of this basic research are expected to lead to new approaches in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The Center is financed to 90 percent by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and to 10 percent by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren e.V.).

http://www.dkfz.de

Natural protection provides possible new treatments for stroke

Two substances that occur naturally in the brain act to protect the brain during a stroke. This is the conclusion of a dissertation published at the Sahlgrenska Academy, and the discovery may lead to new treatments for stroke patients.

Stroke is the result of an infarction, or bleeding, within the brain, and it may lead to impaired movement, impaired sensation, and difficulties in cognitive function and speech. Approximately 30,000 people are affected by stroke each year in Sweden, and it is the most common cause of long-term dependence on care.

"Researchers all over the world are intensively searching for new treatments. One interesting possibility is that of activating stem cells in the damaged brain such that the brain can be repaired and regain its function", says stem cell researcher Jonas Faijerson.

Stem cells are immature cells that reside in selected regions of the adult brain. These cells can develop either into nerve cells or into other cells that are important in the brain, such as astrocytes. Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the brain, and they play an important role when the brain is damaged.

The dissertation shows that activated astrocytes release substances that activate stem cells within the brain.

"We have shown that a very interesting hormone known as 'TRH' is released in large amounts after a stroke, and that this hormone can not only protect from damage but also lead to the activation of stem cells", says Jonas Faijerson.

The stem cells also release survival factors to the surrounding brain tissue when the brain is injured or diseased. The dissertation describes the identification of a completely unknown survival factor, which the researchers have named "pentinin".

"Pentinin protects brain cells from several of the effects that a stroke causes. Both TRH and pentinin are interesting candidates for the development of new treatment strategies for patients with stroke. It is possible that these substances could be given in tablet form, as a drop, or as a nasal spray, when a stroke is suspected", says Jonas Faijerson.

The research has been carried out at the Centre for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

"This work was supervised by a revered friend and colleague, the late Peter Eriksson", says Jonas Faijerson.

Dissertation submitted for the degree of Ph. D. in Medicine at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Section for Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation

Title of the dissertation: Neural Stem/Progenitor cells in the Post-ischemic Environment: Proliferation, Differentiation and Neuroprotection

The dissertation has been successfully defended.

http://www.vr.se

Yawning a form of communication?

If you have ever wondered why we yawn and also had your suspicions that it might be infectious or contagious the latest research on the topic will interest you.

In a study of autistic children, researchers at Birkbeck College, London say showing empathy has a lot to do with yawning.

The researchers tested the reaction of autistic children and normal children when watching video clips of people yawning and then simply moving their mouths.

They say what they discovered supports evidence that people who identify better with others are more prone to contagious yawning.

Atsushi Senju, a researcher at the university says scientists have always known that one yawn often leads others to follow suit but what triggers the phenomenon is unclear.

A yawn, when the mouth is opened wide is a reflex of deep inhalation and exhalation associated with being tired, with a need to sleep, or a lack of stimulation.

A yawn gives a powerful non-verbal message with several possible meanings, depending on the circumstances and some people believe a mechanism in the brain that makes people feel empathy also causes them to yawn when they see others doing the same.

Another speculated reason for yawning is nervousness which encourages the notion that yawning is a form of communication.

On average a yawn lasts about six seconds and 55 percent of people will yawn within five minutes of seeing someone else yawn; reading about yawning will make you yawn and Olympic athletes often yawn before competition.

For the study the researchers showed videos of people yawning or making other mouth movements to 24 children with autism spectrum disorder and to 25 normally developing children.

The researchers found the children with autism, a developmental condition that severely affects social interaction and communication including empathy, yawned less than other children during clips of people yawning.

The team found both groups of children yawned the same amount when watching the video of people only moving their mouths, showing that empathy was the key.

The researchers say their findings support the claim that contagious yawning is based on the ability for empathy.

Contagious yawning is seen in only a few other primates and studies have suggested the behaviour has played an evolutionary role in helping groups avoid danger by keeping animals awake and alert; cats, dogs, and even fish yawn.

The researchers suggest the findings are a trigger for research into the nature of social and communication impairment in those with autism.

They say more research is needed into the relationship between contagious yawning and other symptoms of (autism) such as empathy, imitation and/or face fixation.

The study is published in the Royal Society's Biology Letters.

Emotional brain circuits and depression

In what may be the first study to use brain imaging to look at the neural circuits involved in emotional control in patients with depression, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that brains of people with clinical depression react very differently than those of healthy people when trying to cope with negative situations.

According to the World Health Organization, clinical depression is one of the leading causes of disability and lost productivity in the world. Understanding the root cause of depression, however, has proved difficult.

"It's normal for people to have negative emotions in certain circumstances," says lead study author Tom Johnstone. "One of the features of major depression is not that people have negative reactions to negative situations, it's that they can't pull themselves out of those negative emotional moods. They seem to have a deficit in their ability to be able to regulate their emotions... to come back down to baseline after a negative experience."

To evaluate the role of emotional regulation in depression, psychology and psychiatry researchers from the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and Waisman Center monitored the brain responses of healthy or depressed individuals to a series of images designed to provoke strong negative emotional responses - images such as car accidents and threatening-looking animals.

Participants were asked to consciously work to decrease their emotional responses to some of the negative images, using techniques such as envisioning a more positive outcome than the one implied or by imagining the situation was acted out rather than real.

"We ask them to reframe the content of what they're seeing," rather than divert their attention or distract themselves with unrelated thoughts, Johnstone says. "We hope to engage cognitive areas in re-interpreting the emotional content of a stimulus... to either increase or decrease its impact."

In both healthy and depressed individuals, they found that such efforts increased brain activity in prefrontal cortical areas known to help regulate the emotional centers of the brain, as they expected.

The big difference was seen in the reactions of the emotional centers themselves, including a small almond-shaped structure called the amygdala located deep in the brain.

In nondepressed individuals, high levels of regulatory activity correlated with low activity in the emotional response centers - in effect, the healthy subjects' efforts successfully quelled their emotional responses. In depressed patients, however, high levels of activity in the amygdala and other emotional centers persisted despite intense activity in the regulatory regions.

This finding suggests that healthy people are able to effectively regulate their negative emotions through conscious effort, but that the necessary neural circuits are dysfunctional in many patients with depression, the researchers say.
The difference becomes even more pronounced the harder the patients try.

"Those [healthy] individuals putting more cognitive effort into it are getting a bigger payoff in terms of decreasing activation in these emotional centers," Johnstone explains. "In the depressed individuals, you find the exact opposite relationship - it seems the more effort they put in, the more activation there is in the amygdala."

Though the researchers don't yet know exactly where the differences lie, Johnstone suggests multiple factors may be at work. One possibility is that depressed individuals have a broken link between the brain regions, such that regulatory centers fail to send any dampening signals to emotional centers.

Alternately, he says, depressed patients may fall prey to rumination on negative thoughts. Maybe, he says, "When they try to engage in this regulation they just think more about the emotional content of the images. Perhaps it's quite maladaptive for them... instead of turning down their emotional responses possibly they turn up their emotional responses."

The results of this study may help identify appropriate treatment methods for people with depression, who represent a diverse patient population, says senior study author Richard Davidson.

Common psychological therapies use mental strategies similar to those used in this study, he says, and although psychotherapy might benefit patients who found conscious efforts effective in the scenarios provided in this study, it could be counterproductive for those patients whose mental efforts increased their emotional responses.

"Our results suggest that there is a subgroup of patients with depression for whom traditional cognitive therapy may be contraindicated," Davidson says. "Other therapeutic interventions may benefit this subgroup more than cognitive therapy, though this remains to be studied in future research."

Identifying the involvement of emotional brain circuits may also help focus the development of new treatment strategies for depression and other psychiatric disorders. "Emotional regulation underlies many psychiatric disorders, not only depression," Johnstone says.

Long term, he says, "If we understand where the brain circuits are that are important and how they are involved in regulating emotion, then we can target them with different types of therapies."

Other authors on the study include Carien van Reekum, Heather Urry, and Ned Kalin. The work was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals.

http://www.wisc.edu/

Have you ever experienced pain in your abdomen?

Of course, all of us have experienced a "belly ache" sometime in our lives, but how can you decide when abdominal pain is serious? While most stomach pain isn't serious, persistent or severe pain should not be ignored.

1. You should see a doctor if you experience the following symptoms:
   1. Steady, severe pain or regularly recurring pain
   2. Pain lasting for hours or days
   3. Pain that wakes you from sleep
   4. Pain that impairs your ability to work or perform routine activities
   5. Loss of weight or appetite
2. You should seek medical attention immediately when your abdominal pain is accompanied by:
   1. Fever
   2. Diarrhea
   3. Persistent constipation
   4. Blood in the stool
   5. Change in the color of urine
   6. Persistent nausea or vomiting
   7. Vomiting blood
   8. Severe tenderness of the belly
   9. Jaundice (yellowish discoloration of the skin or whites of the eyes)
   10. Swelling of the abdomen
3. You should see your doctor if you are taking any medicines that can cause ulcers, such as aspirin or other medications, commonly used or prescribed for arthritis or headaches.
4. Consult your physician if you have a previous history of ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gallstones, inflammatory bowel disease, or intestinal surgery.
5. Most patients with abdominal pain can be diagnosed and treated successfully.
   See your physician or appropriate gastrointestinal specialists if you experience persistent or severe abdominal pain.
   
   For more information on abdominal pain, visit the ACG website at http://www.acg.gi.org

About the American College of Gastroenterology

Founded in 1932, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is an organization with an international membership of more than 10,000 individuals from 80 countries. The College is committed to serving the clinically oriented digestive disease specialist through its emphasis on scholarly practice, teaching and research. The mission of the College is to serve the evolving needs of physicians in the delivery of high quality, scientifically sound, humanistic, ethical, and cost-effective health care to gastroenterology patients.

http://www.acg.gi.org

Walk even a little to lower blood pressure!

Even low levels of weekly exercise drive down blood pressure and boost overall fitness, suggests a small study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

To stave off ill health, adults are currently recommended to indulge in 30 minutes of moderately strenuous exercise on at least five days of the week.

But few people meet these recommendations, with lack of time cited as the most common reason for failing to do so.

The study authors invited 106 healthy but sedentary civil servants between the ages of 40 and 60 to take part in an exercise programme for 12 weeks.

Some 44 people were randomly assigned to 30 minutes of brisk walking on five days of the week.

A further 42 were given the same programme, but for three days of the week. And the remainder were not asked to change their current lifestyle.

Pedometers were used to help participants monitor their walking and every participant recorded how long they walked for.

Blood pressure, blood cholesterol, weight, hip and waist girth, and overall fitness (functional capacity) were all measured at the start and finish of the 12 week study.

Most people (89%) lasted the course.

There were no changes in any of the measures among the non-walkers. But systolic blood pressure and waist and hip girth fell significantly in both groups of walkers.

Overall fitness also increased in the walkers.

Falls of a few mm in blood pressure and shrinkage of a few centimetres in hip and waist circumference are enough to make a difference to an individual?s risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease, say the authors

Furthermore, the findings show that moderate intensity physical exercise below the recommended weekly levels still makes a difference to health, they add.

http://www.bmj.com/

More shonky toys from China recalled

In the second toy recall in a month more than 9 million Mattel toys are being recalled because of lead-based paint and magnets that may dislodge.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) along with Mattel has recalled more than 18 million toys worldwide, including 9.5 million toys in the U.S.
To date no injuries have been reported but the small, powerful magnets in many of the toys are at risk of coming loose and could be swallowed by small children.
If more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforation or blockage, which can be fatal.
The recalled toys include 7.3 million Polly Pocket play sets, about 253,000 Sarge die-cast toy cars, about 683,000 Barbie and Tanner play sets, about 340,000 Batman and One Piece magnetic action figure sets, and about a million Doggie Day Care play sets.
The Sarge die-cast car is being recalled because surface paints on the toy possibly contain excess levels of lead, which is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause serious health problems; the cars have "7EA" and "China" on the bottom.
Barbie and Tanner play sets have the model numbers J9472 and J9560; those made after Jan. 31, 2007, are not included in the recall.
The various Polly Pocket dolls and accessories with magnets which have been recalled is an expansion of the Polly Pocket recall issued in November 2006 again because the magnets may come loose from the toys.
Batman and One Piece magnetic action figure sets have magnets that may fall out of the toys, and were sold nationwide from June 2006 through June 2007 for around $11.
Doggie Day Care play sets also have magnets that may fall out of the toys; they were sold nationwide from July 2004 to August 2007 for between $4 and $20.
All of the recalled toys were made in China and Mattel and the CPSC urge consumers to take the toys away from children immediately and contact Mattel to receive a replacement toy.
The CPSC says no injuries are associated with the new Mattel recall, which was issued out of an "abundance of caution."
Full details of the Mattel toy recall including pictures and model numbers can be seen on Mattel's consumer relations web site at http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp.
More information is also available by telephone on the Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall hotline at (800) 638-2772 or Mattel's recall hotline at (800) 916-4997.
Today's recall follows on from Mattel's August 2nd recall of nearly a million Fisher-Price toys that were painted with lead-based paint by a Chinese manufacturer and sold in the U.S. from May 1st until the recall began.
At that time, Mattel said it was reviewing the procedures used by all of its Chinese manufacturers and would take prompt action if any similar problems were discovered.

Cancer blocking gene discovered

Canadian scientists have discovered a gene that suppresses the growth of many cancerous tumours.

The researchers from British Columbia (BC) say the discovery could improve treatments for many cancer patients.

The research team at the BC Cancer Agency conducted studies on mice which revealed that when the gene HACE1 was inactivated, spontaneous late-stage cancer developed.

The researchers first became interested in HACE1 several years ago, when they discovered that the gene, common to all humans, was effectively turned off in certain tumours, such as those caused by breast cancer, lung cancer and lymphoma.

That discovery led to the suspicion that HACE1, when working properly, in some way protects tissue from developing tumours.

They carried out tests on mice to test that hypothesis and found when mice without the HACE1 gene were exposed to environmental triggers for cancer, such as ultraviolet radiation, lung carcinogens and other genetic alterations, there was a surge in tumour development.

The mice developed breast, lung and liver cancers, as well as lymphomas, melanomas and sarcomas; when the HACE1 gene was reintroduced via injection into the mice, tumour growth was halted.

Dr. Poul Sorensen, senior scientist at the agency says the discovery of the gene is very exciting because it clearly has implications for a wide range of cancers, and provides a novel link between cellular stress and cancer.

Dr. Sorensen, says if scientists can learn how to reactivate HACE1 or block cancer cells from inactivating the gene, it may be possible to improve treatments for many cancer patients.

Sorensen says it has long been suspected that cancer is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors working together and their results give an insight into how the disease takes root when a single gene is inactivated.

The study is published in the current issue of the journal Nature Medicine and was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Josef Penninger of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Mobiles and Tumors

Mobile phone users can take heart. A new British research, part of a worldwide study initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO), has found that there is no link between cell phones and brain tumours.
The study conducted at the Institute of Cancer Research involved researchers from several universities. The experts looked at links between mobile use and the incidence of glioma, the most common kind of tumour found in the head. The study looked at 966 patients with a glioma tumour over more than three years, alongside a control group of 1,716, probing their use of phones. The team found nothing that indicated that using a mobile phone increased the risk of suffering a brain tumour, although they did find that the probability risk was slightly increased. But the increase was statistically insignificant, according to German specialist Frank Gollnick, a biologist and scientific adviser to a research association looking into mobile telephony. The recently published results are only part of the Interphone study being coordinated by the WHO. The study, which was launched in October 2000, is the largest of its kind into the possible link between mobile phone use and brain tumours. Bernd Rainer Mueller, mobile telephony expert of the German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) sees no reason to doubt the recently released conclusions. "Scientific methodology is not selective enough to record and represent the additional burden caused by these electromagnetic fields," Mueller said. No previous study has covered so many subjects, who include not only a high number of tumour patients, but also many long-term mobile phone users. In 2004, the results of a partial study conducted in Sweden were released that indicated that mobile phone users did in fact incur a higher risk of an acoustic neurinoma, a growth in the nerves governing hearing and balance. These growths are seen as benign but as the conclusion came out of a partial study, experts are reluctant to base too much on them. A final conclusion, however, will be possible only with the publication of the whole international body of work, which is expected by the end of this year.

10 Essential Health Tips

1. Move More
Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it's a stress buster. Think 'move' in small increments of time. It doesn't have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that's great when you're up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!

2. Cut Fat
Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!

3. Quit Smoking
The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we've seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or 'tough guy' stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress
Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution
If you can't live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It's a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: 'Smoke gets in your eyes'…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.

6. Wear Your Seat Belt
Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

7. Floss Your Teeth
Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it's because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don't? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body's boss.

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking
While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook
There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can't be unhappy when you're smiling or singing.

10. Choose Your Parents Well
The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn't mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you.