A protein in urine could be a strong indicator of prostate cancer risk, according to British scientists who say their findings could one day be developed into a quick and simple test for the disease.

Scientists from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) said the protein, called microseminoprotein-beta or MSMB, is found at reduced levels in men diagnosed with the disease and are also lower in men with more aggressive forms of the cancer.

"The protein is easy to detect because it is found in urine and would potentially be a very simple test to carry out on men to identify those most at risk of developing the disease," said Hayley Whitaker of the Cambridge institute, who led the study.

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A new report has suggested that the use of estrogen therapy is associated with an increased risk of developing kidney stones in postmenopausal women. Using data from the national Women's Health Initiative study, Naim M. Maalouf, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, examined data from two trials.

10,739 postmenopausal women with hysterectomy who received either an estrogen-only treatment or matching placebo and 16,608 postmenopausal women without hysterectomy who received either an estrogen plus progesterone treatment or matching placebo. Data were collected for an average of 7.1 years in the estrogen-only trial and 5.6 years for the estrogen plus progestin trial.


A total of 335 cases of kidney stones were reported in the active treatment groups, while 284 cases occurred in the placebo groups. The beginning demographic characteristics and risk factors for kidney stones were similar in the two groups.

Estrogen therapy was associated with a significant increase in risk of kidney stones. The corresponding annualized incidence rate per 10,000 women per year was 39 in the treatment group and 34 in the placebo group.

Scientists have claimed that the humble red onion could help prevent heart disease. They have discovered that the vegetable - commonly used in Mediterranean and Indian cuisine - helps remove bad cholesterol from the body, which can cause heart attacks and strokes.

At the same time red onions retain the body's good cholesterol, which help protect against heart disease. Scientists in Hong Kong fed crushed-up red onions to hamsters who had all been put on a high-cholesterol diet.

They found that after eight weeks levels of bad cholesterol, or low density lipoprotein (LDL), had dropped by an average of 20 per cent.


"This results support the claim that the regular consumption of onion reduces the risk of coronary heart disease," the Daily Mail quoted Zhen Yu Chen, who was in charge of the research carried out at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as saying.

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Researchers are on the verge of developing a new test for oral cancer that could be done by using a brush to collect cells from a patient's mouth. Scientists from the University of Sheffield would develop the new method that could provide an accurate diagnosis in less than 20 minutes for lesions where there is a suspicion of oral cancer.

The new test would involve removing cells with a brush, placing them on a chip, and inserting the chip into the analyzer, leading to a result in 8-10 minutes. This will have a number of benefits including cutting waiting times and the number of visits, and also cost savings for the NHS.


The team led by Professor Martin Thornhill has begun carrying out clinical trials on patients at Charles Clifford Dental Hospital for two years to perfect the technology and make it as sensitive as possible.

If oral cancer is detected early, the prognosis for patients is excellent, with a five-year survival rate of more than 90 percent.

The nano-bio-chips are disposable and slotted like a credit card into a battery-powered analyzer. A brush-biopsy sample is placed on the card and micro fluidic circuits wash cells from the sample into the reaction chamber.

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Children born using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) are likely to be taller than their naturally conceived counterparts, New Zealand researchers have found.

The study by Auckland University's Liggins Institute found IVF children conceived from fresh, rather than frozen, embryos were about 2.6 centimetres (1.02 inches) taller than non-IVF children by the age of six.

The research, which examined about 200 children, found the height difference was statistically significant, even after adjusting for variables such as the parents' height.Liggins Institiute director Wayne Cutfield said the phenomenon was most striking in girls.


Cutfield said appeared IVF children from fresh embryos had a different hormone profile to regular children, which could promote growth.

This could be caused by the drugs mothers took to induce ovulation during the conception process or by the culture medium the embryos were developed in for 36 hours before being transferred to the womb, he said.

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Cholesterol is an important sub-type of fat. It is required for the functioning of all the vital organ systems and various body metabolisms related to macro and micro-elements. Cholesterol and other lipid sub-fractions are important for human beings and they cannot be cut down to the lowest limit of zero in the diet as well as in the blood levels of an individual.

We don't usually worry too much about the risk of heart disease until a person is in middle age. Adults as young as 20 need to pay attention to their cholesterol, because unhealthy levels may already be damaging their arteries. High cholesterol at a young age leads to heart attacks, strokes or paralysis and pancreatic.

Causes

- Strong genetic/family history of heart disease

- Associated diabetes mellitus, hypertension

- Bad eating habits

- Excess alcohol consumption

- Overweight (lowers HDL-high-density lipoprotein and may raise LDL - low-density lipoprotein)

- Lack of regular exercise (raises LDL and lowers HDL)

- Smoking (may lower HDL by as much as 15 per cent)

- Stress levels (stress can elevate cholesterol levels).

Prevention

- Preference to protein-centric diet (derive only 30 per cent calories from fat)

- Eat more fiber-containing food.

- Consume fresh fruits.

- Intake of more fluids or water.

- Avoid consumption of bakery products, deep fried items, high-carbohydrate content foods (sweets), red meat, egg yolk, excess alcohol, excess consumption of oil and ghee products, milk products such as butter, paneer, etc, junk food items such as pasta, pizza and burgers in regular meals.

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Putting on more weight during pregnancy does not necessarily mean that the baby will be bigger, according to the preliminary findings of an ongoing study, which is the first of its kind in Singapore and the region.

Instead, there are ethnic differences: While Malay mothers-to-be seemed to put on the most weight, Chinese mothers had the biggest babies, said Associate Professor Chong Yap Seng of National University Hospital and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, who leads the study.

But the reasons are not yet clear, he said, as research is still in a very early stage. The Growing Up In Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (Gusto) study seeks to understand how pregnancy and early childhood environments can affect children's risk of developing obesity and diseases like Type 2 diabetes.

For example, other studies have found that poor nutrition during pregnancy often leads to babies being born small, but those same children are more likely to get fat and suffer from metabolic illnesses later in life.


The Gusto study tracks about 1,200 mothers. But only about 500 babies have been born to them to date, with the last batch of infants due to be delivered next April.

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A new study has revealed that exposure to common viruses in daycare puts children with a chronic lung condition caused by premature birth at risk for serious respiratory infections.

Johns Hopkins Children Center researchers say their findings should prompt pediatricians to monitor their prematurely born patients, regardless of age, for signs of lung disease and to discuss the risks of daycare-acquired infections with the children parents.

These risks, the researchers found, include increased emergency room visits and medication use and more days with breathing problems.

"Daycare can be a breeding ground for viruses and puts these already vulnerable children at risk for prolonged illness and serious complications from infections that are typically mild and short-lived in children with healthy lungs," said lead investigator Sharon McGrath-Morrow, M.D., M.B.A., a lung specialist at Hopkins Children's.

Investigators interviewed the parents of 111 children ages 3 and under with chronic lung disease of prematurity (CLDP) about their child's daycare attendance, infections, symptoms, emergency room visits, hospitalizations and use of medications.

Among the 22 children with CLDP who attended daycare, 37 per cent went to the ER for worsening symptoms since their last day in daycare, compared to 12 per cent of children who did not attend daycare. More than 15 per cent of those who attended daycare were hospitalized for viral illness, compared to 6 percent among those who didn't attend daycare.

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Binge drinking and obesity are contributing to a steep rise in deaths from liver disease. The number of deaths from damaged, diseased and worn-out livers has gone up by 60 per cent in just a decade in Britain.

Liver disease, including cancer, claimed 9,719 lives in Britain in 2008 alone, up from 6,058 10 years earlier, a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group said, according to the Daily Mail.

Alcohol is 75 per cent cheaper now than in 1980. Heavy drinking can inflame the liver, causing jaundice and leading to comas and even death. Long-term, excessive drinking can also cause cirrhosis, which destroys normal liver tissue and is replaced by scar tissue. The number of cases has increased 10-fold in recent decades.

Doctors have warned that the alcohol-induced problem, usually found in older adults, is now being diagnosed in teenagers. Liver cancer is also on the rise. Although it is relatively common for cancers to spread to the liver, few cancers started there until recently.

Don Shenker of the charity Alcohol Concern, which is calling for high-strength beers and ciders to be taxed more heavily, said the combination of cheap alcohol and round-the-clock drinking, had fueled a surge in drink-related deaths.

Many young people take advantage of cheap supermarket alcohol, then go out later and stay out later. So their overall alcohol consumption has gone up, he said.

Hepatitis C is also contributing to the surge in liver deaths. Many of today's deaths are from infections caught in the 1970s and 80s, before blood transfusions were screened for the virus.

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Scientists at the University of Naples suggest that a daily serving of tomatoes could protect against prostate cancer and slow the growth of a tumor in an existing sufferer, reports the Daily Mail.

The study involving mice bred to be genetically susceptible to cancer showed those fed a daily diet rich in tomato extracts were less likely to fall ill - and survived longer if they did.

The findings are the latest in a long line of studies looking at whether tomatoes can combat the disease.There have been conflicting results with some suggesting benefits and some none at all.
In the latest, scientists studied mice that had been bred to be at risk of prostate cancer.

The researchers compared those fed a normal diet with mice given at least 10 per cent of their food in the form of a powder made from cherry tomatoes.The tomato-fed mice had lower rates of cancer and survived longer than the others, they said.The study has been published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

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