Good news for women, however: older women with robust sex lives show
no ill-effects, and those having enjoyable sex tend to have lower blood
pressure
Friday, September 30, 2016
Monday, September 26, 2016
HDL ‘Good Cholesterol’ is not that good; It can kill you early!
Cholesterol is of basically two types — good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. The amount of good cholesterol (HDL, high-density lipoprotein) should be high while it should be less for bad cholesterol (LDL, Low-density lipoprotein).
HDL “good” cholesterol enhances blood glucose levels by improving skeletal muscle capacity and diminishing heftiness. Low levels of HDL leads cardiovascular diseases. The specialists discovered that HDL cholesterol levels must be enhanced for appropriate skeletal muscle capacity.
For the study, researchers observed decade-long data (2003-13) from 1.7 million male in the U.S. It was found that like bad cholesterol, good cholesterol too affects our health adversely and increases the risk of early death.
“The findings surprised us,” said the study’s senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. “Previously it was thought that raised levels of the good cholesterol were beneficial. The relationship between increased levels of HDL cholesterol and early death is unexpected,” Al-Aly said.
Study authors said that consuming too much of HDL can lead to kidney dysfunction similar to LDL and VLDL. Al-Aly further added that consuming too less and too much of HDL is bad for health. Just like people try avoiding consuming too much LDL to protect their heart. Similarly, people should also keep a check on HDL levels to reduce the risk of early death.
It is the first study of its kind and a study on a larger scale is required to confirm the find.
Here are few tips to control levels of HDL
- Workout daily
- Join weight loss programs
- Genetics play important role in maintaining HDL level
- Promote good gut bacteria with probiotic-rich foods
- Do not take stress
- Follow the code — ‘Smoking is injurious to health’ and quit smoking
- Reduce saturated fat intake
- Reduce simple carbohydrates intake
- Keep alcohol consumption to a minimum
The study appeared in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Older men enjoying frequent sex have increased risk of heart problems
As if to demonstrate that every silver lining has a cloud, researchers in the US have shown that older men who enjoy frequent sex raise their chances of developing heart problems.
But the same was not seen for older women, who appeared to suffer no ill-effects from a robust sex life, and tended to have lower blood pressure when they found sex highly enjoyable.
Men in their late 50s to mid-80s who indulged in sexual activity once a week or more had twice the risk of heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular conditions over the next five years, compared with men who went without, the researchers found.
To make matters worse, the men who enjoyed sex the most were more likely to suffer heart conditions than those who were not so bothered.
The findings emerge from one of the first large scale studies into the impact of sex on the health of older people. More than 2,200 people who enrolled in the US National Social Life, Health and Ageing project took part in the study at Michigan State University.
Hui Liu, a sociologist who led the study, said that older men may come off badly because they exhaust themselves more than younger men in an effort to reach an orgasm. She said that would “create more stress on their cardiovascular system in order to achieve climax”.
Medicines designed to boost sexual function might contribute to the damaging effects on men’s hearts, Liu added. High testosterone levels may also play a role, by increasing men’s motivation to have sex while predisposing them to hypertension.
In the study, the US team pored over medical records from 2,204 people who were aged 57 to 85 when the first wave of data was gathered in 2005 and 2006. The records contained information on heart rate, hypertension, and cases of heart attacks, heart failure and stroke. Measurements were also taken of biomarkers that are used to predict a person’s risk of stroke and heart attack.
“We found that having sex once a week or more puts older men at a risk for experiencing cardiovascular events that is almost two times greater than older men who are sexually inactive,” Liu said. Those who found sex with their partners “extremely pleasurable” or even merely “satisfying” had a higher risk than others.
While an active sex life appeared to harm the physical - if not mental - health of older men, it had no such impact on women. Instead, the study revealed the better news that enjoying sex in old age protected women from developing high blood pressure and so likely reduced their risk of future heart problems. “Good sexual quality may protect older women from cardiovascular risk in later life,” Liu said.
The findings, Liu believes, challenge the conventional wisdom that sex is good for health whatever a person’s age. In light of the latest findings, reported in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Liu said GPs should talk with their older male patients about the potential risks that come with an active sex life. Those who have sex once a week or more might even do well to be screened for heart problems later in life, she said.
Older women who enjoy an active sex life may fare better than older men because of the beneficial effects of the female sex hormone released during orgasm, and the stress-busting effects of a close relationship, the researchers say. Liu believes that men in all relationships, even bad ones, are more likely to receive support from their partners than women are. “Only women in good quality relationships may acquire such benefits from their partner,” she said.
“Although some studies suggest that women’s health is especially vulnerable to poor relationships, our results reveal an optimistic finding: women’s cardiovascular health can benefit from a rewarding sexual relationship,” the researchers add.
comment:-
this report by Liu ;better flush it down the LOO
Jerry Hall, 59, is engaged to 84-year-old Rupert Murdoch | Daily Mail ...
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Jerry-Hall-59-announces-engagement-84-year-old-Rupert-M...
PHOTOS: Celebrities who married late in life | The Indian ExpressSaturday, August 27, 2016
Taking selfies regularly: You might be a narcissist, says MGM study
Taking selfies regularly: You might be a narcissist, says MGM study
TNN | Aug 27, 2016, 09.23 AM IST
The students surveyed 100 young adults from two different professional colleges in city to assess prevalence of the 'selfie syndrome'.
Through observational study for assessment of behaviour and traits associated with taking and posting selfies among students, researchers used a semi-structured questionnaire result in detection of Selfie Syndrome in significant percentage of people. The research found that narcissists more frequently update their status and selfies, which was motivated by their need for attention and validation from Facebook community. People with low self-esteem more frequently posted selfies with their romantic partners.
When asked about where youth most often take selfies, 30% youths said that they prefer taking selfies at home alone. 59% said they prefer to take them in public, 3% said at work, 1% at school/college while 7% preferred selfies in bathroom.
The other important findings of the study included 15% taking selfies just to send them to a friend, 14% to put on social media, 13% because they were bored, 3% to show people they have friends, 21% take selfies to share their current lifestyle with their family. 3% said they take selfies for attention while 31% said they had other reasons for taking selfies. Overall 34% of people under study agreed to the point that they get some sort of satisfaction from posting selfies on social network. However 66% of people disagreed.
"24% said they get satisfaction after posting selfies - this may indicate narcissism among people. Other data shows tendency of self-objectification and validation from others. For people taking 7-10 selfies, it may indicate the road towards body dysmorphic disorder. 31% people said they feel the pressure to look good all the time in their selfies. This indicates the pressure of society's approval and deep seated insecurities about one's appearance," community medicine department head Dr Sanjay Dixit said.
Five students of the college have completed the research "An assessment of Selfie Syndrome among the students in the Indore city". The students including Aayushi Parashar, Ankur Nayan, Ali Zainul Abedin Hussaini and Ashish Dhurway under guidance of faculty of department of community medicine executed the research.
Narcissism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism
Narcissism
is the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of
one's own attributes. The term originated from Greek mythology, where
the young
Narcissistic personality disorder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
Narcissistic
personality disorder (NPD) is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior
characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive
need ...
Narcissism | Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/narcissism
The Truth About Narcissism.
7 Things Only Narcissists Do | Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what...strong.../7-things-only-narcissists-do
www.dawn.com.
Narcissus - Greek Mythology Link
www.maicar.com
3210: Narcissus in love with his image, 1728. Painting by François Lemoyne, 1688-1728. Hamburger Kunsthalle.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Today, ultrasound is mostly anatomical. We want to bring it down to the molecular and cellular level
Ultrasound tool designed from Lego-like protein
ANI |
Washington D.C. [US]
August 26, 2016 Last Updated at 17:25 IST
A new study outlines how protein engineering techniques may help to image not just anatomy of the baby in ultrasound but also show specific cells and molecules deeper in the body such as those associated with tumor or bacteria in our gut.
The researchers engineered protein-shelled nanostructures called gas vesicles- which reflect sound waves- to exhibit new properties useful for ultrasound technologies.
"It's somewhat like engineering with molecular Legos," said senior author Mikhail Shapiro.
"We can swap different protein 'pieces' on the surface of gas vesicles to alter their targeting properties and to visualize multiple molecules in different colors," he added.
Anupama Lakshmanan, lead author of the study, said: "Today, ultrasound is mostly anatomical. We want to bring it down to the molecular and cellular level."
In 2014, Shapiro first discovered the potential use of gas vesicles in ultrasound imaging. These gas-filled structures naturally occur in water-dwelling single-celled organisms such as Anabaena flos-aquae, a species of cyanobacteria that forms filamentous clumps of multicell chains.
Shapiro realized that the vesicles would readily reflect sound waves during ultrasound imaging and ultimately demonstrated this using mouse.
In the latest research, Shapiro and his team set out to give the gas vesicles new properties by engineering gas vesicle protein C, or GvpC, a protein naturally found on the surface of vesicles that gives them mechanical strength and prevents them from collapsing.
The protein can be engineered to have different sizes with longer versions of the protein producing stronger and stiffer nanostructures.
"The proteins are like the framing rods of an airplane fuselage. You use them to determine the mechanics of the structure," Shapiro said.
In another experiment, the scientists removed the strengthening protein from gas vesicles and then administered the engineered vesicles to mice and performed ultrasound imaging. Compared to normal vesicles, the modified vesicles vibrated more in response to sound waves and thus resonated with harmonic frequencies.
Harmonics are created when sound waves bounce around, for instance in a violin, and form new waves with doubled and tripled frequencies. Harmonics are not readily created in natural tissues, making the vesicles stand out in ultrasound images.
In the other set of experiments, the researchers demonstrated how gas vesicles could be made to target certain tissues in the body. They genetically engineered the vesicles to display various cellular targets such as an amino acid sequence that recognizes proteins called integrins that are overproduced in tumor cells.
"Adding these functionalities to the gas vesicles is like snapping on a new Lego piece; it's a modular system," said Shapiro.
The team also showed how multicolor ultrasound images might be created. Shapiro's group created an approach for imaging three different types of gas vesicles as separate 'colors' based on their differential ability to resist collapse under pressure.
The vesicles themselves do not appear in different colors, but they can be assigned colors based on their different properties.
To demonstrate this, the team made three different versions of the vesicles with varying strengths of the GvpC protein. They then increased the ultrasound pressures, causing the variant populations to successively collapse one by one.
As each population collapsed, the overall ultrasound signal decreased in proportion to the amount of that variant in the sample, and this signal change was then mapped to a specific color. In the future, if each variant population targeted a specific cell type, researchers would be able to visualize the cells in multiple colors.
"You might be able to see tumor cells versus the immune cells attacking the tumor, and thus monitor the progress of a medical treatment," said Shapiro.
The research is published in ACS Nano journal.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
How malaria supports spread of infectious cancer in Africa
Last Updated: Friday, August 26, 2016 - 21:29
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New York: Infectious agents can cause a lot of cancer in Africa and researchers believe they now have a clue to how malaria during pregnancy creates the right conditions for a virus to cause cancer in children.
The researchers wanted to explore why the Epstein-Barr virus causes a type of cancer called Burkitt's lymphoma only in some people and not in all infected by the virus.
Rosemary Rochford from the University of Colorado Cancer Center in the US and her colleagues centered their research in Kisumu, Kenya, a port city of just over 400,000.
The researchers wanted to explore why the Epstein-Barr virus causes a type of cancer called Burkitt's lymphoma only in some people and not in all infected by the virus.
Rosemary Rochford from the University of Colorado Cancer Center in the US and her colleagues centered their research in Kisumu, Kenya, a port city of just over 400,000.
In addition to a near universal rate of
infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, Kisumu has an unusually high rate
of Burkitt's lymphoma and malaria.
"Because Burkitt's lymphoma is prevalent in areas with a lot of malaria, we thought maybe it could be associated with malaria infection," Rochford said.
Children born to women who have malaria during pregnancy are more predisposed to develop Burkitt's lymphoma, the researchers noted.
"What we think happens is that the risk for these children begins during pregnancy. Usually for most people, the virus is quiet. You never even know you have it. But when you get malaria, the virus reactivates and infects more cells,” Rochford said.
"When mothers get malaria during pregnancy, these malaria-infected cells shed more virus and infants get infected earlier in life. Because they're infected so early, their immune systems don't manage the virus the way they should,” Rochford explained.
"It's not just the fact of exposure to Epstein-Barr virus, but the timing of it that matters. These kids with prenatal exposure due to the secondary pressure of malaria are the ones with increased risk," Rochford said.
One answer to the challenge of virus-associated cancers in Africa would be better and more prevalent use of vaccines.
Rochford pointed out that the story of Burkitt's lymphoma is similar to the story of other virus-associated cancers, including cervical cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) and Kaposi's sarcoma caused by the human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8).
In fact, in Kisumu, Kaposi's sarcoma is the most common cancer in men and cervical cancer is the most common cancer in adult women.
Unlike in the US, where the cancer risk of viruses is far smaller than the risks associated with tobacco and alcohol, "in some parts of Africa, the majority of cancers are caused by infectious agents," said the study published in the journal Current Opinions in Virology.
"Because Burkitt's lymphoma is prevalent in areas with a lot of malaria, we thought maybe it could be associated with malaria infection," Rochford said.
Children born to women who have malaria during pregnancy are more predisposed to develop Burkitt's lymphoma, the researchers noted.
"What we think happens is that the risk for these children begins during pregnancy. Usually for most people, the virus is quiet. You never even know you have it. But when you get malaria, the virus reactivates and infects more cells,” Rochford said.
"When mothers get malaria during pregnancy, these malaria-infected cells shed more virus and infants get infected earlier in life. Because they're infected so early, their immune systems don't manage the virus the way they should,” Rochford explained.
"It's not just the fact of exposure to Epstein-Barr virus, but the timing of it that matters. These kids with prenatal exposure due to the secondary pressure of malaria are the ones with increased risk," Rochford said.
One answer to the challenge of virus-associated cancers in Africa would be better and more prevalent use of vaccines.
Rochford pointed out that the story of Burkitt's lymphoma is similar to the story of other virus-associated cancers, including cervical cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) and Kaposi's sarcoma caused by the human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8).
In fact, in Kisumu, Kaposi's sarcoma is the most common cancer in men and cervical cancer is the most common cancer in adult women.
Unlike in the US, where the cancer risk of viruses is far smaller than the risks associated with tobacco and alcohol, "in some parts of Africa, the majority of cancers are caused by infectious agents," said the study published in the journal Current Opinions in Virology.
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