Cholera vaccine is 86 percent effective: Study

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A cheap and easy to deliver oral vaccine against cholera is 86 percent effective in preventing the infection which causes severe diarrhea and can be fatal, researchers said on Thursday. Some 1.4 billion people around the globe were at risk for cholera in 2012, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

Cholera is caused by a bacterium, Vibrio cholerae, which can spread through the water supply in places where sanitation and hygiene are poor.

The study in the May 29 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine was the first to measure the effectiveness of a vaccine called Shanchol in response to a cholera outbreak under field conditions in Guinea.

Previously, the vaccine had been tested only under experimental conditions in Kolkata, India.

The research in Guinea, carried out by Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres), involved more than 300,000 doses of the two-dose vaccine, administered during a cholera outbreak in 2012.

It was 82 to 86 percent effective, and carried few side effects.

However, researchers were unable to compare one versus two doses in preventing cholera, and it remains unknown how the long the vaccine can remain effective at room temperature.

“Furthermore, can Shanchol be used in pregnancy and in children younger than one year of age?” asked a pair of doctors in Haiti and the United States, in an accompanying Perspective article in the journal.

“Although WHO recommendations suggest targeting pregnant women at high risk for cholera, the manufacturer has not approved use of the vaccine in pregnancy, and there are no guidelines for children under one year old.”

There are three cholera vaccines currently on the world market.

Shanchol is less expensive and easier to store than another leading vaccine, Dukoral, and the two are comparable in terms of effectiveness.

Shanchol costs $1.85 per dose, compared to Dukoral at $5.25 per dose. Both may offer some protection against cholera for up to five years.

The two vaccines have been approved by the World Health Organization for purchase by UN agencies. A third vaccine, mORCVAX, is licensed and produced only in Vietnam.

More than 1.6 million doses of Shanchol have already been distributed worldwide in the past three years.

The WHO has stockpiled two million doses and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has pledged support for 20 million doses over the next five years, said the editorial, warning that millions more doses are needed.

Source: Times of India

Airplane Seat-Back Pockets Germier Than Toilet Handles

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Concerned about germs while traveling by plane? It turns out that your seat-back pocket might actually be germier than the toilet handle, according to a new study, which also suggests that certain bacteria can linger on surfaces within airplanes for longer than a week.

In the study, researchers found that the antibiotic-resistant bacterium known as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) lived on material from a seat-back pocket for a week, which is longer than it lived on any other surface found in airplanes. It actually lasted for the shortest amount of time on the toilet handle.

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The bacterium E. coli O157:H7, a common culprit in outbreaks of foodborne illness, survived longest on the material from the armrest, living there for four days.

“We do not know how likely it is for a passenger to get infected, but the odds are higher when groups of people are put into a crowded room or cabin,” said James M. Barbaree, an associate director for research at Auburn University in Alabama. [6 Superbugs to Watch Out For]

“Good hygiene practices lower the risk” of getting sick, Barbaree told Live Science.

The bacteria the researchers looked at are common in the environment, and people may be exposed to them and not even get sick. However, E. coli O157:H7 may cause severe diarrhea, and can even lead to hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a disorder that destroys blood cells and can be fatal, especially in children younger than age 5 and older adults. Infection with MRSA can cause skin diseases and pneumonia.

In the study, the researchers tested how long MRSA and E. coli bacteria could survive in an aircraft cabin while exposed to typical airplane conditions that included human sweat and saliva. The researchers tested the bacteria’s “survival skills” on six surfaces they obtained from a major airline carrier: an armrest, a plastic tray table, a metal toilet handle, a window shade, a seat pocket cloth and seat leather.

The reason certain types of bacteria survived longer on plane surfaces may be related to their differing structures, the researchers said.

Source: Discovery news

Bacteria in placentas of healthy pregnant woman a surprising discovery

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New research shows overturns belief that fetuses grow in a pretty sterile environment, finds link to preterm births

Surprising new research shows a small but diverse community of bacteria lives in the placentas of healthy pregnant women, overturning the belief that fetuses grow in a pretty sterile environment.

These are mostly varieties of “good germs” that live in everybody. But the study, released last week, also hints that the makeup of this microbial colony plays a role in premature birth.

“It allows us to think about the biology of pregnancy in different ways than we have before, that pregnancy and early life aren’t supposed to be these totally sterile events,” said lead researcher Dr. Kjersti Aagaard of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

We share our bodies with trillions of microbes — on the skin, in the gut, in the mouth. These communities are called our microbiome, and many bacteria play critical roles in keeping us healthy, especially those in the intestinal tract. A few years ago, the U.S. government’s Human Microbiome Project mapped what makes up these colonies and calculated that healthy adults cohabitate with more than 10,000 species.

Healthy newborns pick up some from their mother during birth, different bugs depending on whether they were delivered vaginally or by C-section.
What about before birth? There have been some signs that the process could begin in-utero.

But, “we have traditionally believed in medicine that the uterus is a sterile part of the human body,” said Dr. Lita Proctor of the National Institutes of Health, who oversaw the microbiome project.

With the new research, “we realize that microbes may play a role even in fetus development,” added Proctor, who wasn’t involved in the work. “The results of this study now open up a whole new line of research on maternal and pediatric health.”

Aagard’s team earlier had studied the microbiome of the vagina, and learned that its composition changes when a woman becomes pregnant. The puzzle: The most common vaginal microbes weren’t the same as the earliest gut bacteria that scientists were finding in newborns.

What else, Aagaard wondered, could be “seeding” the infants’ intestinal tract?

With colleagues from Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital, Aagaard analyzed 320 donated placentas, using technology that teases out bacterial DNA to evaluate the type and abundance of different microbes.
The placenta isn’t teeming with microbes — it harbours a low level, Aagaard stressed. Among them are kinds of E. coli that live in the intestines of most healthy people.

But to Aagaard’s surprise, the placental microbiome most resembled bacteria frequently found in the mouth, she reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The theory: Oral microbes slip into the mother’s bloodstream and make their way to the placenta.

Why does the body allow them to stay? Aagaard said there appears to be a role for different microbes. Some metabolize nutrients. Some are toxic to yeast and parasites. Some act a bit like natural versions of medications used to stop preterm contractions, she said.

In fact, among the 89 placentas that were collected after preterm births, levels of some of the apparently helpful bacteria were markedly lower, she said.

Aagaard is beginning a larger study to explore the link, planning to analyze the oral and placental microbiomes of more than 500 pregnant women at risk of preterm birth.

Source: Toronto star

 

Exercise Makes you Smarter

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Science now believes exercise is not just good for your heart it can also make you smarter and that means it can make you better at what you do. It works fast too…stimulating your nervous system is one of the best ways to perform at a higher level within a short period of time. Doctor John Tatey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School says, “I like to say that exercise is like taking a little Prozac or Ritalin at just the right moment…it affects mood, vitality, alertness and feelings of well-being.”

Medical science has now concluded that as little as 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day is enough for “Brain Training” for most adults. More is better if you want to enhance the other health benefits we all know exercise provides. If you’re looking for motivation to help you get started perhaps focusing on the mental clarity it provides will get you going. Here are some of the ways exercise can make you smarter…

The “Mind Body Connection” is cutting edge science today. It may have been the ancient Greeks that discovered the the mind body connection, but today we know areobic exercise not only pumps more blood to your muscles it helps your heart send more blood to the rest of your body as well, including your Brain. More blood means more oxygen and more oxygen means healthier brain cells. Better nourished brain cells improve cognition which fuels higher levels of thought.

The endorphins exercise produces also improves your ability to Concentrate, which assists you in blocking out distractions and improves your ability to set priorities. When you are less impulsive it sharpens your focus which enhances your memory. Improved recall makes your thinking more accurate, giving you greater access to your most important skills. “High Levels of Productive Thought” require lots of energy…especially when you need a boost in creativity. Serious creativity is more than a jolt from out of the blue. It’s hard work and you have to stay with it which means you need mental and physical endurance. Several studies indicate you are better able to use both sides of your brain when it is well nourished which leads to more balanced thinking.

Sometimes we all need incentives to perform well and unlike the physical benefits exercise provides which build up over time, “The Mental Rewards Are Immediate.” Even as little as 10 minutes of vigorous exercise can trigger the release of pleasure chemicals within our nervous system that calm us down, make us think more clearly, perform better and even make us happier. If you exercise today your Brain will reward you today…and if you lack patience just knowing a fast solution is out there can be very comforting.

EXERCISE MAY ENCOURAGE THE USE OF BOTH SIDES OF YOUR BRAIN

Experiments show that most children rank highly creative (right brain) before entering school. Because our educational systems place a higher value on left brain skills such as mathematics, logic and language than they do on drawing or using our imagination, only ten percent of these same children will rank “highly creative” by age 7. By the time we are adults, high creativity remains in only 2 percent of the population. New studies indicate that exercising consistently stimulates the whole brain which may increase your access to more skills. And since most of us aren’t as creative as we would like to be an extra “Jolt” from time to time could be very valuable indeed.

Source: world life expectancy

Alternative Treatments for Insomnia

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Alternative therapy encompasses a variety of disciplines that include everything from diet and exercise to mental conditioning and lifestyle changes. Examples of alternative therapies include acupuncture, guided imagery, yoga, hypnosis, biofeedback, aromatherapy, relaxation, herbal remedies, massage, and many others.

Complementary medicine is essentially alternative medicine that is taken along with conventional treatments.

Alternative Therapies for Insomnia

Herbal supplements are purported to help treat insomnia. A look:

Valerian root. Some studies have suggested that the root of valerian (Valeriana officinalis) may help with the onset of sleep and with sleep maintenance. However, more research is needed before a final conclusion can be made about the safety and effectiveness of valerian for insomnia.
Chamomile is another commonly used herb for the treatment of insomnia. More research is needed, however, to see if it is effective. The FDA considers chamomile to be safe and the herb has no known adverse effects.
Other herbs promoted as effective sleep remedies include passionflower, hops, and lemon balm.
Clinical studies to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of herbs are scarce. More information is required before these herbs can be recommended as a first line of treatment against insomnia.

Since herbal supplements can interact with certain medications, always inform your health care provider if you are using any herbal supplements.

Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone that is made by a gland in the brain in humans and produced in animals as well as plants. Although the effects of melatonin are complex and poorly understood, it plays a critical role in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms. Melatonin has been studied as a possible treatment for circadian rhythm disorders and may be helpful in decreasing sleep disturbances caused by jet lag.

Adverse effects of melatonin are minimal, but long-term studies examining efficacy and toxicity of melatonin supplements are needed.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is often used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of insomnia. This procedure involves the insertion of very fine needles (sometimes in combination with electrical stimulus or with heat produced by burning specific herbs) into the skin at specific acupuncture points in order to influence the functioning of the body. The results of recent studies have shown acupuncture improved sleep quality in people with insomnia. However, additional research is required before the effectiveness of acupuncture is proved conclusively for the relief of insomnia.

Relaxation and meditation

Increased muscle tension and intrusive thoughts can interfere with sleep. Therefore, it is not surprising that techniques aimed at relaxing muscles (progressive muscle relaxation and biofeedback) and quieting the mind (meditation) have been found to be effective treatments for insomnia. Most people can learn these techniques, but it usually takes several weeks before they can sufficiently master them well enough to help ease insomnia. There is a growing body of evidence that supports the value of meditation in treating insomnia. Several studies show that regular meditation practice, either alone or as a part of yoga practice, results in higher blood levels of melatonin, an important regulator of sleep.

Exercise

Regular exercise deepens sleep in young adults with or without sleep disorders. In addition, several studies show that exercise can improve sleep in older adults. Recent studies show that even the low-to-moderate tai chi and certain yoga practices enhance sleep quality in older persons and cancer patients with sleep problems, respectively. Although consistent exercise has been shown to improve sleep quality, most experts advise exercising at least three to four hours before bedtime to avoid interference with sleep.

Source: webmd

Environmental toxins could make you look older than your years

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Researchers have said that the amount of exposure to harmful substances, such as benzene and cigarette smoke, in the environment is the reason behind some 75-year-olds being downright spry while others barely being able to get around.

Norman Sharpless from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the rate of physiologic, or molecular, aging differs between individuals in part because of exposure to ‘gerontogens’, i.e., environmental factors that affect aging.

Sharpless said they believe just as an understanding of carcinogens has informed cancer biology, so will an understanding of gerontogens benefit the study of aging and by identifying and avoiding gerontogens, they will be able to influence aging and life expectancy at a public health level.

In the future, blood tests evaluating biomarkers of molecular age might be used to understand differences amongst individuals in aging rates. Those tests might measure key pathways involved in the process of cellular senescence or chemical modifications to DNA .

From a public health perspective, cigarette smoke is likely the most important gerontogen, Sharpless said. Cigarettes are linked with cancers but also with atherosclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and other diseases associated with age.

UV radiation from the sun makes us older too, and Sharpless and his colleagues recently showed that chemotherapy treatment is also a strong gerontogen. With the aid of a mouse model that they developed, his team is prepared to study these gerontogens and others in much greater detail.

The researchers call for a concerted research effort to understand the clinical uses for molecular tests of aging as well as the epidemiology of accelerated aging.

The research has been published in the Cell Press journal Trends.

source: zee news

Dialysis patients’ anxiety and depression linked to physical impairments

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With the rate of chronic kidney disease on the rise among older Americans, researchers seeking to improve patients’ quality of life studied a group of adults undergoing hemodialysis and found their higher rates of depression and anxiety could be associated with their impaired physical exercise capability and reduced daily physical activity, according a new study published online by the Journal of Renal Nutrition.

The researchers studied 72 relatively healthy maintenance hemodialysis patients and compared them to 39 healthy adults who were not on dialysis. They found significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression among the dialysis patients, than among the adults who were not on dialysis. They also found the dialysis patients suffering from depression and anxiety had the greatest impairments in physical exercise performance and daily physical activity.

“Adults undergoing dialysis often have less daily physical activities than other adults, but little was known about what, if any, effect this reduced activity had on their mental state,” said Joel D. Kopple, MD, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) lead researcher. “Our study found an association between reduced daily physical activities and depression and anxiety. Also, the capacity to perform physical exercise was diminished in these patients. These findings provide a strong rationale for studying whether increased daily physical activity can reduce depression and anxiety among adults undergoing dialysis.”

Each person enrolled in the study took walks, climbed stairs and engaged in other physical activities so that researchers could determine their physical abilities. The researchers gauged their depression and anxiety using standardized tests and found 43% of the dialysis patients had anxiety and 33% suffered from depression. In comparison, only 2.5% of the adults who were not on dialysis had anxiety and only 5% of them suffered from depression.

Approximately one in 10 Americans has some form of chronic kidney disease, and the incidence of chronic kidney disease among people ages 65 and older more than doubled between 2000 and 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hemodialysis is a life-preserving treatment for hundreds of thousands of Americans with kidney failure. It is a medical procedure to remove fluid and waste products from the blood and to correct electrolyte imbalances. This is accomplished using a machine and a dialyzer, which is sometimes described as an “artificial kidney.”

“Research is important to improve the quality of life of patients undergoing dialysis,” said Dr. Kopple. “With the growing population of people undergoing dialysis, this research is growing in importance.”

Source: medical xpress

Study: Obesity and Overweight Rates Climbing Worldwide

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A new study published in a British medical journal says obesity rates for both adults and children are climbing worldwide, with the greatest gain in weight in developing countries.

According to the report, the number of people carrying extra kilos climbed from 857 million globally in 1980 to more than 2 billion last year. Researchers report 62 percent of the world’s obese individuals live in developing countries.

The findings come from an analysis of data gathered from 188 countries published in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Investigators discovered the rates of overweight and obesity climbed 28 percent over the past 33 years with the biggest increase in children. Forty-seven percent of all youngsters and adolescents worldwide are now considered overweight or obese.

In developed countries, men have higher rates of obesity than women, although there’s evidence that the pace of weight gain in the United States and other Western nations has begun to slow over the past eight years.

“Nowadays, food is prepared for us. Remember, in the past, it used to take some time to cook a dish,” said Ali Mokdad, who teaches health metrics and evaluation at the University of Washington and co-authored the study. “Now a seven- or 10-year-old child could pop something in a microwave. It’s safe and readily available,” he said.

The authors found some of the highest rates of obesity in China, India, Russia, Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia. Places with the highest percentage of overweight people include the island nation of Tonga, where 50 percent of the population has a weight problem, along with Libya, Qatar, Micronesia and Samoa, where more than 50 percent of women carry excess weight.

The health care costs of obesity, particularly to developing countries, are enormous, according to Mokdad.

“It has a toll on our disability, our diseases. And with an aging population living longer, no country in the world can afford to spend all its money on treatment. We should find a balance between treatment and prevention,” he said.

Without targeted interventions, obesity control programs and the sustained efforts of national governments, experts say it is unlikely countries will meet the United Nations’ goal of halting the rise in obesity rates by 2025.

Source: voa news

Silent virus a rare, dangerous risk for the unborn

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It’s a common, usually harmless virus. But in a rare, unlucky set of circumstances, it can be devastating for infants whose mothers become infected during pregnancy.

Brain damage, deafness and other birth defects are among potential problems when women inadvertently transmit the virus in the womb. Because those complications are so rare, most people have never heard of CMV — shorthand for cytomegalovirus.

Infectious disease specialists, parents of affected children and, now, some legislators, are trying to spread awareness about the virus.

Erica Steadman learned about CMV when her daughter Evelyn was born with a small head and probable brain damage last year. The baby is deaf and potentially faces developmental problems.

“It’s pretty devastating to us. I did everything I was supposed to do when I was pregnant to make sure she was healthy and I didn’t know about this one thing,” said Steadman, who lives in Crete, Illinois, outside Chicago. “We have to face the consequences of that.”

CMV is related to germs that cause genital herpes, cold sores, and chickenpox. It spreads by exposure to body fluids from an infected person. Infections are usually silent but can also cause sore throats and fatigue.

However, the virus can be serious for people with weakened immune systems, including HIV-infected patients and organ transplant recipients. It can also interfere with prenatal brain growth.

The chances of getting infected while pregnant are small, and the chances of passing along the virus in utero are even smaller. Of about 4 million annual U.S. births, about 30,000 babies — less than 1 percent — are born with a CMV infection. About 5,000 of those babies will have CMV-related permanent problems.

The first law in the nation mandating a CMV awareness campaign took effect last July in Utah. It requires urine or saliva tests in newborns who fail already required hearing tests. Studies suggest early treatment with anti-viral medicine may limit hearing loss and may benefit the child’s development, too.

Lawmakers in Illinois and Connecticut introduced similar measures this year. These efforts signal “a very exciting potential shift” in thinking about congenital CMV, said Dr. Gail Demmler-Harrison, a CMV specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. She’s involved in trying to get similar legislation drafted in Texas.

Evidence indicates doctors don’t often mention CMV to pregnant patients; that gap led to Utah’s law. It was sponsored by state Rep. Ronda Menlove, whose 3-year-old granddaughter has CMV-caused deafness. The law has led to a new state health department Web page and pamphlets for doctors’ offices.

About 50 Utah newborns have had CMV tests so far; nine tested positive, said Stephanie McVicar, director of newborn hearing screening for Utah’s health department.

Farah Armstrong of Katy, Texas, joined advocates for Connecticut’s proposed law after her 2-week-old daughter Maddie died from severe CMV complications in February.

“This is something that no mother should ever have to face,” Armstrong wrote in testimony supporting that measure, which didn’t get approved before the legislative session ended this month.

The Illinois measure stalled earlier this year because of funding problems and opposition from the Illinois State Medical Society, which called proposed newborn CMV testing an attempt to legislate doctors’ jobs. But state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, the bill’s sponsor, declared partial victory because “we got the word out.”

All U.S. newborns get blood tests to screen for at least 30 rare but serious diseases and undergo hearing tests before leaving the hospital. Most experts don’t recommend routine CMV testing in newborns, partly because congenital CMV is uncommon and usually causes no problems. Also, CMV screening would subject newborns to a separate test, since blood tests aren’t ideal for detecting the virus, Demmler-Harrison said.

Pregnant women who contract the virus often get it from young children, who tend to be more contagious than adults, Demmler-Harrison said.

The CDC recommends hygiene measures that may reduce the chances of getting infected. These include not sharing food, utensils or toothbrushes used by young children; and thorough hand-washing after changing diapers, handling children’s toys or wiping their noses.

Research suggests a drug used for preventing CMV infection from organ transplants might reduce the chances of infected pregnant women passing the virus to their fetuses. A government study is underway to test that idea.

Efforts to develop a CMV vaccine for adults or children have proved challenging, but studies are ongoing and “we’re hopeful,” said Dr. Ken Alexander, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago.

Source: yahoo news

Dads who do housework have more ambitious daughters

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Maybe you’ve told your daughter she can grow up to be an engineer or CEO if she wants to, but she may not really believe it if her dad doesn’t cook or clean, a new study suggests.

A group of psychologists at the University of British Columbia found that when a father performs a greater share of traditionally female household chores such as cooking, cleaning and childcare, his school-aged daughter is less likely to say she wants to pursue a stereotypical female career such as nursing, teaching or staying at home with the kids, and more likely to aspire to more gender-neutral (and often higher-paying) careers, such as becoming a doctor or lawyer.

A mother’s stated views on gender equality were linked to her children’s views. However, a father’s share of housework made a difference even if both he and the girl’s mother explicitly endorse gender equality, reported the study that will be published in the journal Psychological Science this week.

Boys tended to choose gender-stereotyped careers regardless of their father’s role at home.

“What this is suggesting is that when girls, specifically, are seeing their parents enacting a traditional division of labour at home, it may be limiting their own ambition,” said Alyssa Croft, a PhD candidate who was the lead author of the study, in an interview with CBC News.

“It may just be restricting what they see themselves as capable of doing.… You may not realize how much kids are watching and observing and taking in beyond just what we’re telling them.”

Croft acknowledged that researchers don’t know how the career aspirations of the children will be linked to what they end up doing when they grow up. However, she said they are a good indication of how children see themselves in the context of gender roles.

Actions speak louder than words

She said the effects seen in the study of 326 children aged seven to 13 and their parents were “definitely very significant, meaningful effects.”

She advised parents to be aware of how they’re dividing their labour at home, if they say they believe in gender equality and really do believe in it.

Croft said she undertook the study because most previous studies about children’s gender stereotypes look mainly at the role of their parents’ jobs. She thought what parents do around the house might be more important, since children were more likely to see that.

To find out, she ran a series of tests on children recruited at Science World in Vancouver, along with at least one of their parents. For example, some part of the tests included descriptions of two people — one with more gender stereotypical characteristics and one with less — and asked the participant which one he or she was more like.

In a video interview produced by UBC, Croft said she thinks the findings of the study are important because “despite our best efforts to try and create gender egalitarian workplaces, women are still underrepresented in leadership and management positions.” She added that the study suggests equality at home may inspire girls to pursue careers that they have traditionally been excluded from.

According to Statistics Canada’s 2010 General Social Survey on Time Use, Canadian women at the time of survey spent, on average, four hours and 38 minutes on unpaid work per day — one hour and 13 minutes more than men. The unpaid work included household work, child care, and civic and voluntary activities. The difference was particularly big for child care, where women spent more than twice as much time as men, regardless of the child’s age. For example, women spent an average of six hours and 33 minutes a day on children under the age of four, while men spent just three hours and seven minutes.

Source: cbc news