Eating less can help older adults improve their memory and prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s, suggests a new study.Cutting on calorie intake increases lifespan in mice, reduces the risk of heart disease in people and boosts cognitive ability in elderly animals, it has been shown.

To see if the cognitive benefit held for people, Agnes Floel and team, at the University of Munster in Germany tested the short term memory of 50 people with an average age of 60, who were overweight, but not obese, and then got one-third to eat 30% fewer calories than normal each day.

Post three months, the dieters scored 20% higher on the test than they had before the diet, recalling on average 12.5 words compared to 10.5.
“Two words may not seem like much, but it’s more than the difference between people under 30 and above 50,” says Agnes Floel.

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Even a moderate weight reduction in fat individuals could save them a lifetime of health troubles, especially heart disease, says a new study.

Doctors at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center in Houston have demonstrated a significant motivation to drop even a modest amount of weight."Obesity appears to be the central component of the metabolic syndrome.

Our study have shown that weight loss of as little as 6.5 percent in individuals with the disease results in substantial reductions in blood pressure, glucose, triglycerides and total cholesterol, all factors that lead to heart disease," said Christie Ballantyne, MD, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center and Baylor College of Medicine.

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Women who suffer from high blood pressure during pregnancy are at a higher risk of chronic hypertension and type 2 diabetes for the rest of their lives, according to a new study.

Yale School of Medicine researchers along with the University of Copenhagen, Denmark have found that women who have had two pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia are at an even higher risk of hypertension after pregnancy.

For the study, the researchers analyzed the data of over 11 million women who gave birth in Denmark from 1978 to 2007 Of those women with preeclampsia, a complication of pregnancy linked to life-threatening cardiovascular disease, the risks of subsequent hypertension risks were compounded with each affected pregnancy.

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WASHINGTON: Researchers from University of Iowa have found a link between smoking and premature aging.They identified a key protein that is lost in Werner's syndrome (premature aging) is decrease din smokers with emphysema i.e. chronic lung disease. This decrease harms lung cells that normally heal wounds.

"Smoking can accelerate the aging process and shorten the lifespan by an average of more than 10 years," said Toru Nyunoya, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and a pulmonologist with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

"We focused on what happens within the lungs because of the similar aging effects, including atherosclerotic diseases and cancer, seen in people with Werner's syndrome and people who smoke.

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A high water intake can be harmful during childbirth, causing headaches, nausea, vomiting and brain swelling that result in convulsions,according to a new study.

This condition results when hyponatraemia or too little sodium in the blood occurs because of excess water consumption. It causes swelling of the brain (cerebral oedema), triggering convulsions and even coma.The study is based on 287 pregnant women in Kalmar County Hospital, southeast Sweden, between January and June 2007. They were allowed to drink freely during their labour.

Blood samples were collected on admission and after delivery. Cord blood samples were also taken and analyzed to see if the effects could be detected in the baby.

The study found that 61 women had taken more than 2.5 liters of fluid during labor and 16 of them were found to have hyponatraemia. Researchers found that a reduction in plasma sodium levels correlated with a longer second stage of labor.

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Obese pregnant women are slightly more at risk of having babies with birth defects, according to an analysis of several studies published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

While the absolute risk increase is likely to be small, congenital anomalies linked to maternal obesity include, "a neural tube defect (nearly twice the odds), including spina bifida (more than twice the odds)," the authors of the analysis said.

Other defects include "cleft palate and cleft lip and palate; anorectal atresia (abnormality of the anus/rectum); hydrocephaly (abnormal enlargement of the ventricles of the brain
due to accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid); and a limb reduction anomaly.

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While liver disease in hepatitis C patients is thought to be caused by the immune system's attack on the cells in the infected organ,University of Alberta researchers report finding that the virus behind the disease itself kills liver cells.

Michael Joyce, who led the study, has revealed that his team transplanted human liver cells into mice, which lack an adaptive immune system.He said that the team later infected the transplanted cells with the hepatitis C virus.

He and his colleagues found the virus damaging liver cells itself, and thereby causing them to die.
The researchers also found that hepatitis C causes inflammation, which is the second step in liver disease.

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Chickpeas hold the cure for leucoderma, a chronic skin disease that causes loss of pigment, resulting in white spots or patches on the skin, claim scientists of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

In a research project undertaken jointly by the varsity's medicinal chemistry and skin departments, scientists have found that application of a poly-herbal ointment with chickpeas as its base can efficiently treat leucoderma or vitiligo, controlling the spread of the skin disease that is widely feared for the unsightly white patches it produces.

"The results were encouraging," said an elated Yamini Tripathi, a professor with BHU's medicinal chemistry department and a member of the research team, said.

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Getting botox jabs during pregnancy may cause birth defects in unborn children, according to Australian doctors.

The warning by Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia follows reports of a case in which a link was made between a child born deaf and blind and its mother’s use of an anti-wrinkle treatment during pregnancy. “Botulinum toxin should not be prescribed to pregnant women and we advise our members to strictly follow these guidelines,” said the CPSA’s Dr Gabrielle Caswell.

The 2005 case involved a botulinum type A toxin drug called Dysport. The mother was reportedly injected with the muscle-relaxant cosmetic treatment in the first month of pregnancy.

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The American Heart Association says that it may be beneficial to include omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)-found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds--in diet plans charted for keeping the heart healthy.

The new Science Advisory report suggests that consumers aim for at least five to ten per cent of energy (calories) from omega-6 PUFAs.It further states that one can derive most benefit when omega-6 PUFAs replace saturated or trans fats in the diet.

The report adds that precise recommended daily servings will depend on physical activity level, age and gender, but range between 12 and 22 grams per day.

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Wrinkles are not due to genetics alone but also to stressful environmental factors, such as a divorce, abnormal weight loss and use of antidepressants, according to a new study.

“A person’s heritage may initially dictate how they age - but if you introduce certain factors into your life, you will certainly age faster. Likewise, if you avoid those factors, you can slow down the hands of time,” said the lead author of the study, Bahaman Guyuron, an American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) member.

Researchers examined 186 pairs of identical twins because “they are genetically programmed to age exactly the same”, explained Guyuron, chairman of the department of plastic surgery
at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center, in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Marijuana use may increase the risk of developing testicular cancer, in particular a more aggressive form of the disease, according to a US study published on Monday.

The study of 369 Seattle-area men ages 18 to 44 with testicular cancer and 979 men in the same age bracket without the disease found that being an existing cannabis user raised the risk of cancer by 70%, while men who had used the drug regularly from puberty were twice as likely to develop the disease than those who had not used the drug.

Stephen Schwartz of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, one of the researchers, said that the study was the first to explore marijuana's possible association with testicular cancer.

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