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Particulate air pollution bad for heart health

May 20, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 20 (ANI): Penn State College of Medicine researchers say that breathing polluted air increases stress on the heart”s regulation capacity, up to six hours after inhalation of combustion-related small particles called PM2.5.

This high stress may contribute to cardiovascular diseases, said Duanping Liao, professor of public health sciences.

The body”s ability to properly regulate heartbeat so the heart can pump the appropriate amounts of blood into the circulation system relies on the stability of the heart”s electrical activity, called electrophysiology.

“Air pollution is associated with cardiopulmonary mortality and morbidity, and it is generally accepted that impaired heart electrophysiology is one of the underlying mechanisms,” said Fan He, master”s program graduate, Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine.

“This impairment is exhibited through fluctuations in the heart rate from beat to beat over an established period of time, known as heart rate variability. It is also exhibited through a longer period for the electric activity to return to the baseline, known as ventricular repolarization.

“The time course, how long it would take from exposure to cardiac response, has not been systematically investigated,” said He. “We conducted this study to investigate the relationship between particle matter and heart electrophysiology impairment, especially the time course.”

The team’s study amongst 106 people from central Pennsylvania indicated that heart electrophysiology was affected up to six hours after elevated PM2.5 exposure.

PM2.5 refers to particles up to 2.5 micrometers in size – released by diesel engine, coal, oil, gas or wood combustion. PM2.5 levels are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“Our findings may contribute to further understanding of the pathophysiology of air pollution-related cardiac events, specifically our results indicating elevated PM2.5 exposure is associated with immediate disturbance of cardiac electrical activities within six hours after exposure,” said Liao.

The results were published in recent issues of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology and in Environmental Health Prospective. (ANI)

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Indians, Bangladeshis less prone to asthma than White children

March 25, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 25 (ANI): Indians, Bangladeshis and Black Africans have a similar or lower prevalence of asthma than White children, while Black Caribbean and Mixed Black Caribbean/White boys are more likely to have asthma, according to a study of UK schoolchildren.

In the study, the researchers examined the occurrence of asthma, and probed ethnic differences in risk factors.

Melissa Whitrow and Seeromanie Harding from the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit of the Medical Research Council, UK, used data taken from 51 London schools to investigate a random selection of 11-13 year old pupils.

In the final sample for analysis, there were 1219 children who identified themselves as ”White UK”, 933 ”Black Caribbean”, 1095 ”Black African”, 459 ”Indian”, 215 ”Pakistani”, 392 ”Bangladeshi” and 299 ”Mixed White UK and Black Caribbean”.

“Social and environmental factors may influence risk of asthma through early life exposures regulating the allergic inflammatory response and/or later life exposures to allergens. A positive association between body mass index (BMI) and asthma has also been reported. We aimed to investigate the influence of these factors on ethnic differences in asthma prevalence,” said Whitrow and Harding.

The researchers found that a family history of asthma and psychological well being were consistent correlates for asthma regardless of ethnicity.

They observed that less than six years of residence in the UK had an independent protective effect for Black Caribbeans and Black Africans, possibly reflecting continuing protection from early life exposures in their home countries.

A gender difference was observed for Indians and Bangladeshis, with less asthma in girls than boys.

“These findings point to early protective influences which are not properly understood. International comparisons could provide useful insights into prevention of asthma, for ethnic minority children and for all children,” said the authors, speaking about these results.

The study has been published in the open access journal BMC Pediatrics. (ANI)

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Food stores abundance puts low-income women in small cities at higher obesity risk

March 11, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 10 (ANI): The availability of supermarkets, rather than the lack of them, increases the risk of obesity for low-income women living in small cities, claims a new study.

To reach the conclusion, K-State researchers studied the availability of food stores for low-income women in Kansas to see whether there was a link to obesity.

The findings showed that limited availability of grocery stores did not contribute to an increased risk of obesity in metropolitan or rural areas, but it was associated with an increased risk of obesity in micropolitan areas in Kansas, defined as cities with fewer than 40,000 people.

“This study was one of the first to look at supermarket availability across the urban-rural continuum, and the findings suggest that policies to increase healthful food availability may need to differ depending on urban influence,” said David Dzewaltowski, K-State professor and department head of kinesiology.

Dzewaltowski and Paula Ford, assistant professor of public health sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, published the study in the January issue of Obesity, a research journal. Ford led the project as a doctoral student at K-State. (ANI)

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Obesity, booze and smoking increase second breast cancer risk

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 9 (ANI): Obesity, alcohol use and smoking significantly increase the risk of second breast cancer among breast cancer survivors, says a new study.

The study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has been published online Sept. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“We found that obese women had a 50 percent increased risk, women who consumed at least one alcoholic drink per day had a 90 percent increased risk, and women who were current smokers had a 120 percent increased risk of developing a second breast cancer,” said lead author Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., an associate member of the Public Health Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center.

The research suggests that current smokers who imbibe at least seven drinks a week may be at particularly high risk of second breast cancer.

“Our study results afford breast cancer survivors three ways to potentially reduce their risk of second cancers: Stay at a normal weight, don’t smoke and drink in moderation,” he said.

Both obesity and alcohol use are associated with increased levels of circulating estrogen, and this is thought to be the primary means through which they confer an increased risk of breast cancer, since estrogen can fuel breast cancer growth. The link between smoking and breast cancer may be attributed to carcinogens in tobacco smoke.

To reach the conclusion, Li and colleagues assessed body mass index, alcohol use and smoking status in 365 women who were diagnosed with both a first and a second breast cancer, and compared them to 726 matched controls diagnosed with only a first breast cancer.

Obesity, alcohol use and smoking data were collected from medical record reviews and participant interviews. The study participants, all from the Seattle/Puget Sound region, were first diagnosed with breast cancer between the ages of 40 and 79. (ANI)

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Diets bad for the teeth may be bad for the body too

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 10 (ANI): Dental disease may be a warning that the high-glycemic diet that led to dental problems in the short term may, in the long term, cause harm to the body.

“The five-alarm fire bell of a tooth ache is difficult to ignore,” says Dr. Philippe P. Hujoel, professor of dental public health sciences at the University of Washington (UW) School of Dentistry in Seattle.

Hujoel weighed two contradictory viewpoints on the role of dietary carbohydrates in health and disease. The debate surrounds fermentable carbohydates: foods that turn into simple sugars in the mouth.

Fermentable carbohydrates are not just sweets like cookies, doughnuts, cake and candy. They also include bananas and several tropical fruits, sticky fruits like raisins and other dried fruits, and starchy foods like potatoes, refined wheat flour, yams, rice, pasta, pretzels, bread, and corn.

One viewpoint is that certain fermentable carbohydrates are beneficial to general health and that the harmful dental consequences of such a diet should be managed by the tools found in the oral hygiene section of drugstores.

A contrasting viewpoint suggests that fermentable carbohydrates are bad for both dental and general health, and that both dental and general health need to be maintained by restricting fermentable carbohydrates.

The close correlation between the biological mechanisms that cause dental decay and the factors responsible for high average levels of glucose in the blood is intriguing.

Hujoel explains that eating sugar or fermentable carbohydrates drops the acidity levels of dental plaque and is considered an initiating cause of dental decay.

“Eating these same foods, he says, is also associated with spikes in blood sugar levels. There is fascinating evidence that suggests that the higher the glycemic level of a food, the more it will drop the acidity of dental plaque, and the higher it will raise blood sugar. So, possibly, dental decay may really be a marker for the chronic high-glycemic diets that lead to both dental decay and chronic systemic diseases. This puts a whole new light on studies that have linked dental diseases to such diverse illnesses as Alzheimer’s disease and pancreatic cancer,” Hujoel said.

The report has been published in the Journal of Dental Research. (ANI)

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Migraines linked to reduced breast cancer risk

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 10 (ANI): For women who suffer from migraines, here’s some good news: New study shows that your risk of breast cancer may be reduced by as much as 26 percent.

And no matter what a woman’s age or what migraine triggers a woman might be avoiding, the risk of breast cancer is still reduced, according to the study, led by Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., a breast-cancer epidemiologist and associate member of the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division.

Li led the first-of-its-kind study linking migraines with breast cancer risk reduction that was published last November.

This time researchers found that the risk reduction remained statistically similar regardless of a woman’s menopausal status, her age at migraine diagnosis, use of prescription migraine medications or whether she avoided known migraine “triggers” such as alcohol consumption, smoking and taking hormone replacements. These triggers are also well-established breast cancer risk factors.

Some key differences between this study and the initial one that discovered the link include: the sample size was more than four times larger this time – more than 4,500 cases and controls versus about 1,000 each in the first study – and was more diverse geographically, drawing women from five metropolitan areas instead of only one.

“From an epidemiological perspective, having a larger and more diverse study in its underlying population helps in replicating the finding,” Li said.

The age range of women studied was wider this time, 34-64 years of age versus 55-74 years old.

“We were able to look at whether this association was seen among both pre-menopausal and post menopausal women. In breast cancer this is relevant because there are certain risk factors that are different between older and younger women. In this study we saw the same reduction in breast cancer risk associated with a migraine history regardless of age,” Li said.

Researchers were able to ascertain whether women in the study had lifestyle behaviours that are known migraine triggers – alcohol consumption, smoking and taking hormone replacement therapy.

Researchers posited that perhaps women who had migraines drank and smoked less and didn’t take hormone replacements.

“But in this study we looked at women who never drank, never smoked and who also didn’t use hormones and found the same association within each of those groups, suggesting that the association between migraine and reduced breast cancer risk may be independent of those other factors and may stand alone as a protective factor,” he said.

What remains unknown is how migraine confers its apparent protection against breast cancer.

“We know that migraine is definitely related to hormones and that’s why we started looking at this in the first place. We have different ideas about what may be going on but it’s unclear exactly what the biological mechanisms are,” Li said.

The study appears in the July 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. (ANI)

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Pacifiers don’t interfere with breastfeeding success

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 30 (ANI): Giving an infant a pacifier does not interfere with breastfeeding success, say researchers.

The team led by Dr Fern Hauck, researcher and associate professor of family medicine and public health sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine has found no adverse relationship between the two.

“Physicians, nurses and others who advise parents on infant care issues do need to be educated about the potential benefit of using a pacifier for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) prevention, and further, now need to be reassured that using the pacifier should not interfere with breastfeeding,” said Hauck.

The researchers reviewed 29 studies, of which four were randomized control studies (RCT), 20 were cohort studies and five were cross sectional studies.

The results from the four RCTs showed no difference in breastfeeding outcomes with different pacifier interventions, such as use with tube feedings, use after delivery or educational programs promoting non-use of pacifiers.

Most of the observational studies- cross-sectional and cohort – reported an association between pacifier use and shortened duration of breastfeeding.

According to Hauck, this association was likely due to other factors such as breastfeeding difficulties or desire to wean.

“Mothers who breastfeed are often advised not to use a pacifier. This recommendation needs to be corrected. However, if a baby refuses a pacifier, it should not be forced upon him or her,” she said.

Hauck added that the best time to introduce a pacifier is usually when the baby is three to four weeks old, after breastfeeding is well established. Most of all, mothers who choose to breast-feed need lots of support.

The results appear in Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine. (ANI)

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High IQ may mean low death risk

March 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 14 (ANI): After studying one million Swedish men, Wellcome Trust researchers have come to the conclusion that there is a strong link between cognitive ability and the risk of death.

Dr David Batty, a Wellcome Trust research fellow at the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, says that a lower IQ seemed to be strongly associated with a higher risk of death from causes like accidents, coronary heart disease and suicide.

He said that the study suggests that government initiatives to increase education opportunities may also have health benefits.

For their study, the researchers analysed data from one million Swedish men conscripted to the army at the age of 18.

Once Batty and his colleagues had determined whether a person had grown up in a safer and more affluent environment, they found that only education had an influence on the relationship between IQ and death.

According to the researchers, the association between IQ and mortality may be partially attributed to the healthier behaviours displayed by those who score higher on IQ tests.

“People with higher IQ test scores tend to be less likely to smoke or drink alcohol heavily, they eat better diets, and they are more physically active. So they have a range of better behaviours that may partly explain their lower mortality risk,” the Science Daily quoted Batty as saying.

While past studies have suggested that IQ scores can be improved with preschool education programmes and better nourishment, the current research indicates that this may also have previously unforeseen health benefits, and thus validates government efforts to improve living conditions and education.

Batty says that the public may also be benefited by simplifying health information.

“If you believe the association between IQ and mortality is at least partially explained by people with a lower IQ having worse behaviours – which is plausible – then it might be that the messages used to change health behaviours are too complicated,” he says.

“Messages about diet, including how much or what type of alcohol is beneficial, aren’t simple, and the array of strategies available for quitting smoking are diverse and actually quite complicated. If you clarify the options available to people who want to, say, quit smoking, in the short term that may have an effect,” he adds.

Another study co-authored by Batty, using data from more than 4000 US soldiers and followed them for 15 years, also found that same relationship between IQ scores and mortality, as well as a significant association between higher neuroticism and increased mortality risk. (ANI)

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Both red and white wine up breast-cancer risk

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 9 (ANI): A new study, led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has revealed that both red and white wine are equal offenders when it comes to increasing breast-cancer risk.

“We were interested in teasing out red wine’s effects on breast-cancer risk. There is reason to suspect that red wine might have beneficial effects based on previous studies of heart disease and prostate cancer,” said lead author Polly Newcomb, Ph.D., M.P.H., head of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Public Health Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center.

“The general evidence is that alcohol consumption overall increases breast-cancer risk, but the other studies made us wonder whether red wine might in fact have some positive value,” Newcomb added.

Instead, the researchers found no compelling reason to choose red wine over white wine.

“We found no difference between red or white wine in relation to breast-cancer risk.

Neither appears to have any benefits. If a woman drinks, she should do so in moderation – no more than one drink a day. And if a woman chooses red wine, she should do so because she likes the taste, not because she thinks it may reduce her risk of breast cancer,” Newcomb said.

The researchers found that women who consumed 14 or more drinks per week, regardless of the type (wine, liquor or beer), faced a 24 percent increase in breast cancer compared with non-drinkers.

For the study, the researchers interviewed 6,327 women with breast cancer and 7,558 age-matched controls about their frequency of alcohol consumption (red wine, white wine, liquor and beer) and other breast-cancer risk factors, such as age at first pregnancy, family history of breast cancer and postmenopausal hormone use.

The study participants, ages 20 to 69, were from Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The frequency of alcohol consumption was similar in both groups, and equal proportions of women in both groups reported consuming red and white wine.

The study has been published in the March issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. (ANI)

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